Characters You Crave to Know by C. Hope Clark #ChaBooCha

Characters You Crave to Know

by C. Hope Clark

Remember that character you fell in love with a long time ago? The one you wanted to be friends with, live with, maybe even marry? Without the author’s adept touch at developing that character, you might’ve skimmed over him, or skipped him when he spoke, or not read the book altogether.

Writing three-dimensional characters is intentional, not accidental, and you don’t just start writing in hope you make them appeal to a reader. So, what steps can you take to infuse color and style into your characters to make them memorable, and entice a reader to want more of your talent?

1)      Create a bible.

List your characters, each on a page or in his own column on a spreadsheet, and note every defining item you could imagine: height, weight, skin color, hair color, hair style, eye color, age, education, birthplace, parental relationship, marital status, hobbies, occupation, political affiliation, car, clothing preferences, dialect, religion, favorite food, favorite music, favorite movie, favorite color, shoe size, jewelry, and so on. Anything you’d want to know about a person you meet.

2)      Take that bible deeper.  

Take the description into their personality and history. What is their worst fear, second worst fear, biggest failure, biggest regret, missed opportunity, biggest success, scar, weakness, trength, habit, quirk, deepest dream or desire, type of friend preference, addiction, and so on.

3)      Interview the character.

Ask the character questions, then write his responses as he would actually speak in person. Don’t list his answers, but instead, act as if you are transcribing his words, to include his stuttering, cursing, uhs and ums, big words, choppy sentence, misuse of words, humor, sarcasm, machismo, flirtation, and body language. Here you are practicing writing his dialogue so that it comes natural later in the story. Ask him how he likes his steak cooked, or how would he react if he came home and his house was burgled? What does he think about his parents, or his boss at work? Think of everyday conversations and bounce them off your players, reaching for a wide range of reactions.

4)      Define his status.

Is your character a power figure, a peacemaker, or subservient (follower)? What makes your character three-dimensional is often in recognizing how they will change depending upon the situation they step into or the other players they encounter. A sixth grader amongst high schoolers acts entirely different than a sixth grader around other sixth graders, or around third graders. Personality shifts depending upon the people, places, and moments. Understand how your character would morph as situations alter.

5)      Master dialogue.

You already have a feel for your character’s speech patterns after interviewing him, but attempt to write your dialogue without tags. Tags are phrases like he said, she cried, they shouted. Instead, use beats as much as possible, showing the character’s actions, reactions, and foreshadowing. None of us speaks with reacting to our surroundings. Covering our eyes in the sun, talking over our shoulders, stroking a cheek, crossing our arms, pacing, fisting our hands. When you can write a dialogue between players without tags and still follow the conversation, you’re mastering your characters.

Check the following excerpt from Echoes of Edisto, my third book in the Edisto Island Mystery Series, coming out in August 2016. Note there’s only one tag in the entire excerpt yet you have no problem recognizing who speaks to whom.

“Callie?” Beverly caught her daughter in the hallway before Callie exited and reached the chief. “They’re leaving a mess on my doors,” she complained, pointing at the fingerprint technician.

Yes, let’s worry about smudges and ignore the crime. “No other option, Mother. They’ll take your prints as well, to rule them out of the ones they find. Just do as they ask. And can you bring me about three aspirin?”

Beverly held up her hands, flipping them over to analyze her nails.

“Jesus, Mother, they aren’t here to inspect your manicure.”

Beverly snatched her fingers closed. “I know that.”

Regardless the genius of your plot or elaborate scheme, if the characters don’t jump off the page, the story will fall flat. Plot does not drive the characters. Characters drive the plot. And most of the time a reader will thoroughly enjoy any tale . . . if the characters are remarkably entertaining. And you cannot make them entertaining unless you write them as if you’ve met them in person.

*****

C. Hope Clark writes mysteries in the rural South, preferably along the coastal Lowcountry of South Carolina. She has published two award-winning series, her most popular being the Edisto Island Mysteries. The most recent is Edisto Jinx, and the upcoming release is Echoes of Edisto, August 2016, by Bell Bridge Books. Hope also founded FundsforWriters.com, a resource aiding writers seeking to earn a living at their craft, chosen by Writer’s Digest for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past 15 years. Her weekly newsletter reaches 35,000 readers. She teaches at workshops, conferences, and libraries across the country. www.fundsforwriters.com / www.chopeclark.com

*****

Give-away

Today's prize is the book The Shy Writer Reborn: An Introverted Writer's Wake-up Call 
 by C. Hope Clark. If you are a signed-up member of ChaBooCha, all you need to do to be entered into the drawing for this book is comment on this blog post. Winners will be selected from a random number generator on March 31st at noon (GMT).

ChaBooCha guest post line-up for 2016 #ChaBooCha

Guest post line-up for the Chapter Book Challenge 2016

Starting on March 7th, guest posts from the authors and editors listed below will be posted to the blog. I've given you a brief summary of the guest-posters credits here so you have an idea of what is to come. Some of the bios were sent in already, and the ones that haven't been sent in yet were created by taking bits and pieces about the authors from their Amazon author pages or from their web pages. Their official bios will be included in their guest posts. The list below is in no particular order and does not reflect the order in which the guest posts will be published. I can tell you that I have read at least one novel (sometimes more) or several short stories from each of the guests who will be posting, and, because of this, I am able to assure you of their talent and skill when it comes to the craft of writing.

*****

Yvonne Navarro lives in southern Arizona and is the author of twenty-two published novels and well over a hundred short stories. Her writing has won the HWA's Bram Stoker Award plus a number of other writing awards. Visit her at www.yvonnenavarro.com or on Facebook.

SASS is a group on Facebook that helps promote new Indie authors (those with less than 3k likes on their pages) and helps numerous authors whip their street teams into shape. They also run blog tours, cultivate reviewers, and do all things bookish (there’s even a member that makes book trailers). Oh, and they do it all pro-bono. Visit them on their Facebook page and on Twitter.

Nancy Holder is a five-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association. She has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times. She and Debbie Viguié coauthored the New York Times best-selling Wicked series for Simon and Schuster.  They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade and the Wolf Springs Chronicles series, and are hard at work on a teen thriller. She is also the author of the young adult horror series, Possessions, for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the MTV Teen Wolf, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes. She has also sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005. She is an editor and writer of comic books, graphic novels, and pulp fiction for Moonstone Books, where much of her work centers around Sherlock Holmes. She writes a column for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Bulletin. She also teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. 

C. Hope Clark is founder of FundsforWriters.com , a writer's resource awarded 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writer's Digest Magazine each year for over a decade. Her weekly publications reach 40,000 readers. She motivates and educates writers to step up, take charge, and create their careers. Her latest FFW release often discussed at conferences is The Shy Writer Reborn: An Introverted Writer's Wake-up Call. She's the author of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series, the first release entitled Lowcountry Bribe, by Bell Bridge Books. Tidewater Murder and Palmetto Poison released the following two years. Hope branched out with a new series in 2014 with Murder on Edisto, book one in The Edisto Island Series. Edisto Jinx came out in 2015 with the third in the series expected summer 2016. 

Miranda Kate is a freelance proofreader/editor, living as a British expat in Holland. She writes flash fiction and has stories in a variety of anthologies, including Once Upon a Time, 100 Doors to Madness, Twisted Tales 2015, and Spooky Tales. Miranda's most frequent genre of choice is horror.

Daniel Swensen is the author of Orison, a fascinating fantasy that follows a feisty young thief named Story. You can also find his short story Burn for free on Amazon.

Rose Pressey is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She enjoys writing quirky and fun novels with a paranormal twist. Her paranormal series include A Haunted Vintage Mystery Series, The Halloween LaVeau Series, the Maggie, PI Mysteries series, the Larue Donovan series, the Bayou Series, the Rylie Cruz Series, A Paranormal P.I. Mystery series, the Haunted Tour Guide Mystery series, A Haunted Renovation Mystery series, the Mystic Cafe Series, the Chase Charley Mystery series, the Hadley Wilds series, and the Trash-to-Treasure Crafting Mystery series. She can be found on Facebook. 

Joy Corcoran is a writer and artist who lives in Portland, Oregon and blogs about how the arts impact and improve our lives. She reviewed books for 12 years at WEVL Community Radio in Memphis. Joy has had stories published in various regional and literary magazines. She's worked with the Portland Storytellers Guild and the Oregon Women's Caucus for Art. She also worked with the Yuhuhugs team to help create The 12 Lessons for Greatness, stories for children and essays for parents on values.

Melissa Gijsbers is an Australian author of children’s books and flash fiction. She is a contributing author in all three Teapot Tales anthologies as well as a variety of other collective works. She was the first official regional ambassador for the Chapter Book Challenge (Melbourne group) and is a member of the SCBWI. Her first book for children, Swallow Me, NOW! was released in October 2014. Her book 52 Blog Post Ideas: Blogging for Authors came out in Summer 2015. You can find out more at www.melissagijsbers.com.

The Ten R's of Revision by author Lee Wardlaw #ChaBooCha #LeeWardlaw

picture via Lee Wardlaw

The Ten R's of Revision

1. Revel

You’ve written an entire chapter book in one month. That’s huge.

Revel in your accomplishment. Well done!

2. Rest

Take a nap. Take two naps. You need a little R & R to Refuel and Refresh your creative juices.

3. Refrigerate

Put your manuscript on ice. It needs time to cool. Don’t look at it for at least two weeks. Three is better. Four is best. An editor will read it cold. So you need to, too.

4. Re-Read

Print out your manuscript, grab paper and pencil, settle into a comfy chair, and read. Avoid revising – instead, make notes on your characters, plot, pacing, conflict, setting, point of view, etc., that might need work.

5. Reject

Ignore the Internal Critic who uses Reproach and Ridicule to convince you this is The World’s Worst Novel, and that you might as well just give up now. (This is a rough draft. Of course it stinks! But you’re going to make it better. Trust me.)

6. Repeat #4

Re-read your manuscript again. Did you notice anything else that needs work? (Bet you did!)

7. Ransack!

At last – time to revise! Be Ruthless. Rearrange scenes, Restructure the plot, Remove or Replace characters, Raise the stakes, Re-check your facts (maybe do more Research), etc.

8. Read Aloud

Re-read your manuscript again, chapter by chapter – but this time, read it out loud. Does your story flow – or stumble?  Are you boring yourself? Time to Raise the stakes again! Do your characters sound Realistic? If not, delve deeper into their minds. Does every scene, sentence, and bit of dialogue further the plot in some way? If not, chuck it. Use Reason, not emotion. Never keep something just because it’s a beautiful piece of writing.

9. Rally

I know you’re tired. Hang in there. You’re almost finished. Just one or two (or three) more read-throughs…

10. Rejoice!

At last – the revision is finished. Celebrate – and submit! (The manuscript, that is.)

BONUS R: ‘RITE!

Time’s up! Get back in your chair and write another chapter book!

About the author

Lee Wardlaw swears that her first spoken word was 'kitty'. Since then, she's shared her life with 30 cats (not all at the same time!) and published 30 books for children, tweens, and teens, which have sold more than a million copies world wide. Her newest novel, 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies (Puffin and Scholastic, ages 10-14), the third book in her popular 101 Ways to Bug...series, received the National Forward Literature Award for Humor; her picture book Won Ton - A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Holt, ages 5 and up), illustrated by Eugene Yelchin, was the recipient of 40 awards and honors, including the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award, and the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award. Won Ton and Chopstick - A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku, a companion title to Won Ton, was released earlier this month. Lee lives in Santa Barbara with her family.  To learn more about her and her books, visit: http://www.leewardlaw.com

 http://pawstoread.comTwitter: @LeeWardlawFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/leewardlaw

Give-away

Today's give-away is a copy of "You Can Write Children's Books Workbook" by Tracey E. Dils. If you are a signed-up member of the challenge, all you need to do to be entered to win is to comment on this post on the blog. Winners will be chosen by a random number generator by noon on March 31st and announced on the same day.

Give-away for ChaBooCha Jr. members

If you have signed up as an under-16 member of the challenge, you can enter a give-away for a copy of  "Writing Advice for Teens" by Mike Kalmbach. Just leave a comment on this post on the blog to enter. If you are using the e-mail/account of a parent who is also a member of the challenge, please leave the name you signed up for ChaBooCha Jr. under in your comment. Winners will be chosen by a random number generator by noon on March 31st and announced on the same day. You must be signed up for ChaBooCha Jr or ChaBooCha and be under 16 to qualify.

Editing Your First Draft by author Tamora Pierce #ChaBooCha #TamoraPierce

Editing Your First Draft

So you’re almost to the end, and you’re thinking, “Soon all this will be over!”  Hah!  You forgot the rewrites, you silly writer-creatures you!  Give yourselves a moment to sag in despair once you’ve finished your completion-of-first-draft celebrations, but don’t stay in despair.

Believe it or not, a lot of us prefer rewrites to initial drafts.  My friend and writing buddy, Young Reader writer Bruce Coville, likes them so much he does thirteen of them.  Thirteen, could you just die?  I stop at three, max, and I only go to three when it’s the first book in a new series and I’m creating a new setting and a new cast of characters.  Rewrites mean you already have something on paper.  You may cut; you may insert; you may combine characters or insert new ones who force you to revise how the rest of them behave for the remainder of the book, but at least you have something to work with.

Bruce, I’ve found, is also one of those non-linear writers.  He will chug along, find something new and interesting, and go back and insert it from the very beginning, which generates a new draft.  If his old one gets too messy, he stops where he is, enters the changes, and continues writing with the clean copy.  So he doesn’t write thirteen drafts, exactly.  They’re more like thirteen partial drafts.  He also works with two other book groups and compares the commentary he gets, as well as with his wife, Young Adult writer Kathy Coville.

My own process has changed over the years.  There was a happier time, when I had more leisure to work, when a single draft meant that, once I wrote it, I would print it out and go over it by hand, making revisions.  Then, if I had the chance, I would read it aloud.  You catch so many more things you want to fix by reading on paper what you had on a screen (or vice versa), and the same is true of reading aloud.  I regarded the manuscript that resulted from hand corrections and reading aloud as a single draft.  These days I read manuscript aloud with Bruce, which not only gives me the chance to make corrections of my own, but also allows me to incorporates his feedback as well (I do the same for him). Another friend, Young Adult and adult writer Sarah Beth Durst, doesn’t do overall rewrites (she says they’re too overwhelming).  Instead she rewrites the plot, then the setting, then one character, then another, then others that are important, and things like dialog, and so on.

As you can tell, the rewriting process is every bit as idiosyncratic as the writing process.  Everyone has to work out how s/he/they will pursue it.  You have to shape it to work for you.  Bruce has tried for years to get me to a book group, but I’m too shy.  (I know, you’re surprised, right?)  I won’t even do it online.  He realized just how hard it was for me to let another writer around my raw manuscript when it took me four months to agree to read with him.  I have always been a solitary writer; it took a lot of trust for me to read with my friend.  Not everyone can relax that much, or has a friend they trust that much.

And first you have to decide when to rewrite.  I recommend that you leave the manuscript be for at least a week, so you’ll have time to catch your breath before you dive back in.  Keep in mind, when you go back, that you are always going to be your worst critic.  You are going to hate what you see when you return to the work.  Just grind your teeth and tell yourself that the thing that made you write this in the first place knows better than you do if it’s any good or not, and get to work on those rewrites.  Decide how many is enough and send that manuscript out—you can always rewrite it some more if it comes back to you a couple of times, or if a publisher asks you to.  ;-)

Whatever else, just keep writing!

About the Author

New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling writer Tamora Pierce has written 29 books of fantasy for teenagers, a short story collection, an original audio book, radio plays, comic books, and articles.  Her books have been translated into many different languages and are available on audio. Her works have been ALA Best Books for Young Adults, YALSA Best Books, and NY Public Library Books for the Teen Age.  She was also named the 2013 Margaret A. Edwards Award winner for her Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small quartets.  She lives with her Spouse-Creature, two parakeets, and many indoor and outdoor cats in Syracuse New York. Visit Tamora Pierce’s Webpage at www.tamorapierce.com

Give-away

Today's give-away is a copy of "The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes" by Tami D. Cowden and Caro LaFever. If you are a signed-up member of ChaBooCha, all you need to do to be entered into the drawing for this book is comment on this blog post. Winners will be selected from a random number generator on March 31st at noon (GMT).

What to Do When you Hate What You've Written by Adam Wallace #ChaBooCha

What to Do When You Hate What You’ve Written

Writing is awesome. It is so much fun to sit and write or type something out, read it over, and be rapt in what you’ve written. It might make you laugh or make you cry. It might make you feel scared. It might make you feel like you can make it in this caper.

Except sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes you read a piece of your work and you hate it. Like, seriously hate it. It doesn’t have the feel you were after. It’s dull and drab and goes nowhere. It was a brilliant idea that doesn’t come across at all!

Think this just happens to you? Think again.

IT HAPPENS TO EVERYONE!!!

Sure, it happens more to some people than others, but it happens to everyone.

So what do you do when you’ve written something that you hate? To me, there are a few options.

1. Put it aside for a period of time. Especially if it is an idea or theme that you are really keen to explore, put it aside. Leave it. Move on to something else. Stick it in a drawer and do not think of it again.

Except you will.

You will think about it.

Suddenly, and it may be weeks or months down the track, something will pop into your head. An idea. A thought on how you can fix it, make it better.

That’s when you take it out of the drawer and get back to work.

(P.S. If that doesn’t happen, if you don’t get a burst of inspiration, you can still get back to work on it. Or not. You can also just leave it there for some more time.)

2. Work through it. Some people actually enjoy working through that phase of hating a piece of work, digging deep into it and really finding out why it isn’t working, doing the hard yards to come up with a piece of work that they’re happy with. To them, the final piece can feel more rewarding, and they can love it even more because they hated it at one point.

This isn’t me …

3. Show it to people you trust will be honest with you. Yes men are not your friend when you’re a writer. Not if you want to improve, at least.

Let these other people read it. If you tell them that you’re not happy with it, don’t say why. Don’t lead their comments in a certain direction. Just let them read it and tell you what they think. Two things might happen here. One is that they may actually like it. Just because you hate it doesn’t mean everyone else will. Then you have a decision to make, because is there a point to producing a piece of work if you hate it? Even if others like it? That’s up to you.

The second thing that might happen is that they, with a fresh set of eyes, may be able to give you ideas that can turn the piece around. If those ideas click with you, well, that’s when it’s time to get back to work.

4. The last and final thing I think you can do when you hate what you’ve written, and sometimes this can happen before or after you steps 1, 2 or 3, is to chuck it out. Just chuck it. You don’t have to love and keep every single thing you write. If you do, if you cling to thinking every piece has to be brilliant, and that you and everyone else in the world has to love every word you ever produce, you will never move forward.

You will never become a great writer.

You have to be prepared to just let some things go and move on.

Some pieces are steps along your journey, and that’s it. You need to get them out of your system to free yourself up for what you really want to write, even if you don’t know it at the time.

And even if you chuck a piece, there may still be snippets of dialogue or description that you may keep in a notebook, or there may be a theme that you may still like to try and write something around later, but you don’t have to keep the entire piece.

There’s no rule.

Not everything you write has to be a masterpiece, but it is all part of becoming a better writer. And sometimes, throwing something out and letting it go will free you up to write something brilliant.

Good luck, and happy writing!

About the Author

A qualified Engineer and Primary School Teacher, Adam Wallace settled on writing books for children as his career of choice. With more than 20 published, including Better Out Than In and the How to Draw series, Adam is fast becoming a well-known name in the world of children’s books. You can find Adam's books at Adam Wallace Books and his Facebook author page here.

Give-away

All you need to do, as a signed-up member of the Chapter Book Challenge, to enter into the drawing for "Writing Irresistable Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers" by Mary Kole is to comment on this blog post. (If you are reading this in your e-mail, you will need to click on the link that will take you to the actual post and then comment.)

"Little Dead Riding Hood" by Amie and Bethanie Borst

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for having us here. *Waves!* We're still on cloud nine after all the excitement of our release of LITTLE DEAD RIDING HOOD yesterday.

You know things are going to suck when you’re the new kid. But when you’re the new kid and a vampire… well, it bites! Unlike most kids, Scarlet Small’s problems go far beyond just trying to fit in. She would settle for a normal life, but being twelve years old for an entire century is a real pain in the neck. Plus, her appetite for security guards, house pets and bloody toms (tomato juice) is out of control. So in order to keep their vampire-secret, her parents, Mort and Drac, resort to moving for the hundredth time, despite Scarlet being dead-set against it. Things couldn’t be worse at her new school, either. Not only does she have a strange skeleton-girl as a classmate, but a smelly werewolf is intent on revealing her secret. When she meets Granny—who fills her with cookies, goodies, and treats, and seems to understand her more than anyone—she’s sure things will be different. But with a fork-stabbing incident, a cherry pie massacre, and a town full of crazy people, Scarlet’s O-positive she’ll never live to see another undead day. Not even her Vampire Rule Book can save her from the mess she’s in. Why can’t she ever just follow the rules?

Add Little Dead Riding Hood to your Goodreads to-read list here.  Purchase LDRH at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite Indie bookstore!

 ***

Today we'd like to tell you a bit about our plotting process. It's really not unlike the process most authors use. At least I don't think so. The only exception is that there are two of us tackling the project, not just one.

Plotting for us entails the use of:

• Markers
• Posterboard
• Scissors
• Post-it notes in multiple colors

Then we complete the following steps:

1. The first thing we do is we create an arc on our posterboard, kind of like an upside "U", to symbolically represent the story arc. We then label the top of the posterboard with the working title of the book.
2. Next, we create a key with our post-it notes across the bottom of the posterboard. The categories are typically, MC (main character), World Building, Plot, Theme, and Inciting Incident, to name a few.
3. We cut our post it notes in half, and while maintaining our color scheme to match our key, begin to fill out the strips of post-it notes. So, for example, if I'm using pink notes to represent the MC, I will write all my notes about the MC on pink strips of post-it notes. We will include anything and everything about our MC, from her favorite color, to her favorite food, to her worst moment, her fears, and her motivations. This helps us as we plot even more of the story because we can refer back to those notes.
4. After we've filled out as much information as we can, we put our notes on our posterboard/storyboard.
5. We continue to do this for every category until our posterboard somewhat resembles the vomit of a my little pony. Hey, no one ever said plotting was pretty!

Once plotting is complete, the real work begins. Writing!

About us:

Amie Borst is a PAL member of SCBWI. She believes in Unicorns, uses glitter whenever the opportunity arises, accessories in pink and eats too much chocolate. 

Bethanie Borst is a spunky 14 year old who loves archery, long bike rides and studying edible plant-life. She was only 9 when she came up with the idea for Cinderskella!

Little Dead Riding Hood is their second book in the Scarily Ever Laughter series. Their first book, Cinderskella, released in October 2013.

You can find them on facebook. Amie can be found on twitter, pinterest, and her blog.  

 ***

We're having two great giveaways as part of our blog tour! The first is for a copy of LITTLE DEAD RIDING HOOD! So be sure to enter the giveaway by following the steps on the rafflecopter form below. 

THEN - as soon as you finish that, be sure to stop by my blog for a second contest! I'm having a SCAVENGER HUNT that you won't want to miss with lots of extra great prizes! All you have to do is make sure you enter the contest below first, then hop over to my blog and fill out the rafflecopter form there! Super easy!

See you soon! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*****

Note: It's been great having Amie share a bit about her and Bethany's writing process for "Little Dead Riding Hood."  I will be reviewing the book as soon as I find a bit of that ever-elusive spare time, and, once I've posted my review over on Amazon and Goodreads, I will tack it on to this post as well, so check back in a couple of weeks!

On Editing by Karen Pokras Toz #ChaBooCha

Thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Chapter Book Challenge. Today I'd like to talk about editing your chapter book. Now that you've written your book, you may think it's time to hand it off to your editor to let him or her work their magic and clean it all up, right? Wrong. After you’ve written your first (or even second or third draft), you still have a bit of work to do before it's ready for professional editing. It's time to get down and dirty with self-edits.

I know that each writer has his or her own system for self-editing, which is understandable because it's a very personal thing. After all, you've just spent quite a long time and a great deal of effort creating your masterpiece. I’d like to share with you the steps that I take when self-editing one of my books.

You may think: But I worked so hard! Isn't it already perfect? No. While self-editing admittedly can be frustrating, it is also eye-opening and the place where I personally believe I further develop my craft the most in my writing process. For me, it is a multi-step process:

1. I read through each chapter individually and critically, looking for content flow and plot holes. This is important, as quite often a great deal of time has passed from when I first wrote my early chapters. I ask myself: Did the story still progress the way I intended? Did I answer all questions brought up in the first part of the story? Did all the characters mentioned early on turn out as planned? Is there too much info? Too little info? Does the ending make sense? Etc, Etc.

2. I read the entire manuscript out loud ... to my cats. They usually fall asleep or run off somewhere in the first three chapters, but I try not to be offended. The purpose of the “read aloud” round is to hear grammar flow, repetitive words, punctuation errors, and things of that nature. In addition, reading aloud helps continue with anything I may have missed in step 1. I know that many of the types of errors I find here are ones that my editor would also find, but I like to give her as clean a copy as possible (& even with taking all these steps, she still finds plenty to correct).

3. Beta readers. This is not always step 3, but it is always within the 1st three steps. They are vital and always have great advice and suggestions. Choose readers who enjoy your genre and who understand your voice for maximum results. Some authors like to give their entire manuscripts to their betas at one time for an overall picture. I prefer to give out chunks of 3-5 chapters. That way, I get feedback such as “this is what I would like to see happen next ...” It gives me a better picture of where the reader’s mind is after reading certain chapters.

4. Incorporate beta readers’ suggestions into manuscript and repeat steps 1 & 2 until you feel your book is the best possible story you can write.

Now it is ready to hand off to your editor for a professional polish and shine.

Good luck and happy writing!

***** 

 

Karen Pokras Toz writes middle grade and adult contemporary fiction. Her books have won several awards including two Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, the Grand Prize in the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, as well as placing first for two Global E-Book Awards for Pre-Teen Literature. Karen is a member of the Society of the Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). For children, her books include the Nate Rocks series, Millicent Marie is Not My Name, and Pie and Other Brilliant Ideas. For adult readers, Karen’s books include Chasing Invisible, and her soon to be released, Whispered Wishes series. A native of Connecticut, Karen now lives outside of Philadelphia with her family. For more information, please visit www.karentoz.com.

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Give-away!

One commenter will win a paperback copy of "You Can Write Children's Books" (second edition) by Writers Digest. Leave a comment on this post before March 31st at noon GMT to enter. Must be a signed-up member of the challenge to qualify. The winner will be chosen through a random number generator on March 31st at noon GMT.

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Winners!

Selected through a random number generator, the winner of a copy of  "Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Beginning Readers and Chapter Books" by Nancy I. Sanders is:

Kelly McDonald!

Congratulations, Kelly! 

Crafting Convincing Villains by Julie Anne Grasso #ChaBooCha

Introduction:

I am an Independent Author of middle grade sci-fi. When I was conjuring my villain, I couldn’t help but draw from the movies, books and characters I already loved.

The first draft of my MS was actually about 70,000 words, and for middle grade that is considered long. I had a manuscript service that suggested I had included a great deal about the villain, more so than the protagonist. 

You see, I had dreamed up an entire world that this villain inhabited, with fairly intricate details, but I had made the mistake of including all of his backstory. I was on the right track though, because although I cut 20,000 words before publication, I had a convincing villain with a bio that I stayed true to.

So true that I have had quite a few readers express how much they loved Alexander222.

Oh dear, I should be shaking my head you might be thinking, but actually, that’s how I wanted it to be…. You’ll see why. So let’s take a look at how to craft a convincing villain.

What is the function of a villain?

• Drive your plot forward.
• Create a problem / tension
• Up the stakes.
• Reveal a universal truth. ie Good and Evil.

Let’s Start With Some Inspiration:

Where do we draw from?

• Multimedia: TV, movies, YouTube, games
• Books
• People you know
• Universal Themes: ie Good v Evil
• Concepts: ie Corporate corruption  

Let’s look at some:

• Vodemort: The Truly Evil Villain:  http://youtu.be/eAHDS5Rn4kg 
• Doofenshmirtz: The Blundering Villain:  http://youtu.be/7HKtcGQGJDA 
• Bowler Hat Guy: The Creepily Ambitious Villain:  http://youtu.be/rWRMSN1-fyk 
• Muntz from Up: The Everyday Villain: http://youtu.be/63Wv4e_k0nw  
• Auto: The Inanimate Object Villain: http://youtu.be/p3A7vIcLL1M 

Let’s look at some examples from Children’s literature.

• “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman: Page 3-5The Man Jack is upfront on the first page, there is no doubt about who this villain is.
• “The Wishbird” by Gabrielle Wang: Page 23-25Panther bullies Boy into stealing from the Demon Monster’s House. He we have two villains revealed in one conversation.
• “Spiderwick Chronicles” By Toni Diterlizzi; Holly Black Page 373-5
  Mulgareth is alluded to throughout the book, until Jared finally meets the hideous creature about half way through.
• “May Bird and The Ever After” Jodi Lynn Anderson Page 82-83.  Page 95-98
  Bo Cleevil is alluded to throughout the book. Few have seen him, but everyone has a story about him.

Alexander Gordon Smith says: from his book “Writing Best Selling Children’s Books”

“A common pitfall for the new author is not matching villain to hero. He suggests try giving your villain the same personality but twists it.”

He also suggests that we get into the mind of our villain.

Get in the mind of your villain

In J.K Rowling’s  “The Prisoner Of Azkaban,” Harry confides in Sirius that he is terrified that he will become like Voldemort. Sirius responds that we all have darkness and light.

Start with a mission statement

Practice first on a few all-time, down-right dirty villains: Write a mission statement for him or her: just a couple of lines.  Here are some examples, or how about you try writing one for your own villain.

• Darth Vader
• Ursula The Sea Witch
• Voldemort
• The Wicked Witch from Snow White
• Bowler hat guy
• Cruella Deville
• Muntz from Up

Refer Back To Your Mission Statement

So now you have your mission statement:  If you are wondering how your villain is going to behave and speak, keep referencing your mission statement:

• Would my villain stop for directions and pay for gas? NO
• Would my villain take what is not rightfully his/hers? YES
• Would my villain stand around and gloat about his plan, before it has succeeded? YES
• Does my villain have a sense of humour? YES/NO This may impact at some point, so decide now.

A little Note To Beware:

Remember, villains who like to announce what they are going to do, can sometimes appear like you are telling not showing. 

If you are going to have a villain tell your protagonist his/her plan, make sure the dialogue flows, so it appears like the protagonist really wanted to know why, how and when.

Try not to be too Scooby Doo-like. “And I would have gotten away with it, if wasn’t for those pesky kids.”

Hang on just a second:

Before you get starting on the evil exploits your villain is going to perpetrate:

• Decide how transparent or translucent you are going to make them.
• Does the reader know from the get go that they are the baddie?
• Will you reveal their identity slowly over time, leaving the reader guessing?

Create a Bio for them:

• What events happened to them to change them or bring them to a place of evil?
• What's their motivation?
• Think about their actions and describe what they do as the villain.

Try not to drive the reader’s insane

• Having a villain wax lyrically out loud or in thought, will definitely convince your readers that the villain is bonkers, but it will also drive your reader bonkers.
• Keep it to a minimum, and find ways to dialogue or show instead through actions.

Consider adding a sidekick

Just as our hero can have sidekicks or supporting characters, so can our villain:

The aim of the side kick is to help reveal the villains character and motivations.

Do this in dialogue.

Do this in action: ie How the villain treats the side kick, gives us a great deal of insight into his character.

Don’t Box Yourself In

When conjuring a side kick, they don’t have to be the traditional Batman/Robin.

A side kick can also be a collection of incidental characters:

Note: Be careful not to introduce too many, as kids will lose the plot completely as to who is who.

Gru is a great example

From Despicable me: Gru is kind of a mish mash of good and evil and as a result, he has sidekicks that actually demonstrate the polar opposites of his character.

The girls he adopts help to show his warm and soft-hearted side.

The minions do his bidding, provide loads of comedy and help to further the plot of the evil genius.

And the old guy that does his inventions, helps to validate him as a criminal and spur him on.

Use your sidekick to reveal your villains character

• Through dialogue and how they speak to them: ie Condescending, giving orders
• Through physical interactions ie How they treat them?
• What does the villain make the side kick do?
• How loyal or disloyal they are to their sidekick?

OOPS! How serious are we?

According to Alexander Gordon Smith, “If you want readers cowering under the doona,” then comedy is not indicated.

Remember: Refer to your mission statement: Does your villain have a sense of humour.

If you are willing to let the readers route for the villain just a little….Pop in some comedic moments.

NO VILLIAIN IS AN ISLAND

What THE?

If your villain is completely and utterly bullet and fool proof, what hope does your protagonist have of defeating them.

They must have some flaws, which the protagonist can use to outsmart, outwit, or out perform.

Leave a little room for….

REDEMPTION:  Think of the great villains that weren't as bad as you thought: Shout them out to me

Let’s look at an all time classic:

"Luke, I Am Your Father"

Removing Darth Vader's Mask

Remember: Villain’s come in all walks

• They don't have to be just super natural beings with limitless power.
• Think of the people you disliked as a kid, your teachers, your class bully's, the other kids, your older siblings.
• Always bring it back to their mission statement.
• Would they do this to achieve their goals?

Time to check in on our villain:

• Appropriate for age range?
• Absolutely no sexuality.
• Are all their actions in keeping with the rating of your book?
• Avoid excess violence.

Beta readers are key:

In my first book, my 10 year old beta reader pointed out the level of violence. She suggested the 9 year olds might not cope with it…LOL!!!!

Put on the parent glasses:

• Do I want my child to read retaliation with weapons as standard?
• Is there another way to portray this without bullet weapons?
• In my books, I decided on stun guns that could revert to bullet weapons. The only time a bullet is fired, is accidental.

Don’t forget the protagonist:

If your villain’s actions are so heinous that they require, blatant retaliation and use of weapons by children:

You are not writing for children.

If your child protagonists have no empathy at all for the villain, when he/she is at their lowest, and they retaliate with equally heinous actions like murder:

I suggest you rethink the amount of violence included in your book.

Some folks can get away with it:

H---ger G--es

What would J.K Rowling say?

In her interview with Oprah, she mentioned a communication she had with her editor after certain worldwide event.

 “And they say we shouldn’t write about evil in children’s books.”

One last thing before we go:

You are the creator of this world that you have been dwelling in.

You can change your mind on your villain if you like:

Just remember, there is no going back once you do.

There has to be an entire plot and justification behind it.

Sometimes Cliché’s work

As clichéd as it is, villains are often forced into action by terrible circumstances.

Alexander Gordon Smith says,

“Nothing turns a plotline on its head and wakes the reader up like a villain who simply had to do what he did.”
“The better the villain, the better the hero.”

Keep Moving Forward

In all things, here is my parting advice…

http://youtu.be/TNXr5Alytg4

References

• Smith, Alexander Gordan. Writing Best Selling Children’s Books: 52 Brilliant Ideas For Inspiring Young Readers. Oxford UK Infinite Ideas Company Ltd. 2007. Print
• Buccieri, Lisa Rojany, Economy, Peter. Writing Children’s Books For Dummies. Hoboken NJ Wiley Publishing Inc. 2005. Print
• McDougal, Jill. Become A Children’s Writer, Insider Secrets. 2008  Kindle Edition.
• Rowling. JK. The Prisoner Of Azkaban London Uk Bloomsbury.1999. Print
• Anderson, Jodi Lynn. May Bird And The Ever After. New York. Aladdin Paperbacks. 2005. Print
• Anderson, Jodi Lynn. May Bird Among The Stars. New York. Aladdin Paperbacks. 2006. Print
• Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. London. Bloomsbury. 2009. Print
• Wang, Gabrielle. The Wishbird. Australia. Puffin Books. 2013. Print
• Diterlizzi, Tony, Black, Holly. The Spiderwick Chronicles. The completely fantastical edition. New York. Simon & Shuster. 2009. Hard Cover.
• Oprah Interview with J.K. Rowling http://youtu.be/Uv1O6JJMC5o

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Julie Anne Grasso is an Australian independently published author with a background in pediatric nursing.  She spent many years literally wrapping children in cotton wool. Every day she witnessed great courage and resilience from the tiny people she cared for, which inspired her to write stories about a little girl elf just like them. The Adventures of Caramel Cardamom Trilogy was the result.

Where to find me:

www.julieannegrassobooks.com

www.whenigrowupiwannawriteakidsbook.blogspot.com.au

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Comment on this post by noon on March 24th to be entered into the drawing for a paperback copy of Roz Morris's "Writing Characters Who'll Keep Readers Captivated: Nail Your Novel." Winner will be chosen by a random number generator on March 24th at noon GMT. You must be signed up for the challenge to qualify.