5 Dialogue Mistakes You Can Fix Right Now by Ashley March

It's guest Monday! Today we have one of our regular monthly contributors, the lovely and talented Ashley March (who will soon be known as Elise Rome for her new novels!)


Ashley is starting a new blog series here to help you out with those fine tuning things in your manuscript. Be sure to look for her tips each month. First up...dialogue.

Day 240: Smooch!
Photo by Brian Gosline

You Can Fix ItNow: Five Dialogue Mistakes
by Ashley March
Sincebecoming a published author, one of the things I’ve tried to do as a way of“giving back” to the writing community is to offer critiques to other writers.Sometimes these come through auctions, sometimes through networking when I offera critique to someone who’s made an impression on me. I’ve learned a lot in thepast few years I’ve been writing and critiquing, and I’d like to start sharingwith you the most common mistakes I find in the manuscripts of aspiring/beginningwriters. These are mistakes that you can fix now, instead of waiting forsomeone else to point them out to you (although I highly recommend that everywriter has a critique partner, if not two, plus a few beta readers). I’mbeginning the series with dialogue issues.
  1. Redundant Dialogue Tags
I’ve seen somewriters who include a dialogue tag at the beginning and end of a sentence.
For example:“Don’t do that,” Sheilasaid, “or your eyes will become crossed and no girl will want to dateyou again for as long as you live,” she said.
Only one tag isneeded. In fact, if Sheila were to go on for an entire paragraph, expounding onthe reasons why the person shouldn’t cross their eyes, she wouldn’t need anyfurther dialogue tags, because we’ve already established who the speaker is.
  1. Using a Dialogue Tag Every Time
It’s notnecessary to add a dialogue tag with every comment that one of your charactersmakes. In fact, less is better. You should use dialogue tags for these reasons:to establish who is speaking, or to remind the reader who is speaking; and tohelp with the rhythm/pacing of the words.
What not to do:
“I thinksomeone’s at the door,” Sheila said.
“Who is it?” Peter asked.
“How should Iknow?” Sheila asked.“I’ve been in my room.”
“Look,” Petersaid, “you’re the one who told me—”
“Just go see whoit is!” Sheila exclaimed.
And so on.Better alternative:
“I thinksomeone’s at the door,” Sheila said, motioning to Peter.
“Who is it?”
“How should Iknow? I’ve been in my room.”
“Look,” he said,“you’re the one who told me—”
“Just go see whoit is!”
Notice that weremoved one tag completely by including it in the narrative description ofanother tag. After two or three lines of pure dialogue I usually try to givethe reader a reminder of who the speaker is, as I did here. If we had twocharacters of the same gender, I would have specified a name. But because theywere different genders, I used “he” instead of a name, because the constantrepetition of names—whether in dialogue or narrative—can become tiring for thereader. If you’ll notice, the second example of dialogue now has a much betterpacing with the changes we’ve made.
  1. Using a Dialogue Tag Instead of a Descriptive Tag.
I am a huge fanof the descriptive tag. They help keep the reader in the room with yourcharacters, so your characters don’t end up as talking heads. They reveal ticsabout your characters (for example, revealing that your heroine bounces her legwhen she lies). They help to avoid repetition of dialogue tags over a long stretchof dialogue. There are several great uses for descriptive tags. However, keepin mind that these tags can easily be overused as well.
Examples ofdescriptive tags:
“I don’t know.” Peter’s hand hovered over thestair banister as he peered into the dark entryway below. “I have a badfeeling about this.”
“Don’t be awuss.” Sheila blew on herfingernails. “It’s probably just the UPS guy.”
  1. Improper Dialogue Tags
I know you mighthave seen these in published books before, but unless your dialogue tag describesthe way someone speaks—their volume, pace, and so forth—then it’s not adialogue tag.
The most commonoffenders I see:
“Sometimes Ireally do hate you,” Peter sighed.
(If you doubt meon this, try saying this sentence while sighing. It doesn’t work.)
“I know,” Sheilasmiled.
This goes forgrinning, giggling, laughing, etc. The proper way to write this would be tochange this from a dialogue tag to a descriptive tag.
“I know.” Sheila smiled.
           
Yes, you cansmile while speaking and even laugh while speaking, but when it comes down toit in terms of writing, a dialogue tag describes how the character speaks,whereas a descriptive tag describes what the character does.
Please note thatthere are a couple of exceptions to this, such as “lied” or “hedged”. But thesedialogue tags tie directly into what the character is saying, so that theycan’t be used apart from the speech itself. You never see: “Sometimes I really do hateyou.” Peter lied. Just as you never see: “Sometimes I really do hate you.” Peter shouted.
  1. Alienating the Reader Through Dialogue Tags
This is more ofa character issue and how you want to present your character to the reader.
For example,let’s say that you write about a strong, independent heroine who knows who sheis and what she wants and has a good head on her shoulders. Then you write thissentence:
“Oh, Mr. Smith,I can’t believe you said that.” Rebecca giggled.
Unless I as thereader know that Rebecca is acting like a silly coquette for a reason, thisdisturbs me. Note that if you leave off the descriptive tag, I can imagine thissentence being said in a number of ways. It’s not the sentence itself thatthrows me off, but the “giggled”.
“Whined” hasthis same effect. Be careful in choosing your words. Just one wrong word canthrow off the reader and destroy character consistency.
Do you recognize any of these issues asthings you need to work on? What other dialogue mistakes have you read inmanuscripts/books that drive you crazy?
Ashley March is a historical romance author who lives in Coloradowith her adoring (or is that adorable?) husband, her two young daughters, andtheir dog. Her latest book, ROMANCING THE COUNTESS, was released in September2011. She won’t be Ashley March for much longer, however; as of January 1,2012, Ashley will become Elise Rome. 

 

 

 

 


“...a sexy, sizzling tale that is sure to have readers begging for more!" –Jo Davis, author of I SPY A DARK OBSESSION

 

 

CRASH INTO YOU is now available for pre-order!

Read an excerpt here.


All content copyright of the author. Please ask permission before re-printing or re-posting. Fair use quotations and links do no require prior consent of the author. ©Roni Loren 2009-2011 |Copyright Statement|

 

Letting Your Character in on the Secret by Ashley March

It's Monday again and time for one of our regular guests--the lovely and insightful Ashley March. Today she's giving us a great idea on how to turn some tropes on their head.


Take it away, Ashley...

Letting Your Character in on the Secret 
by Ashley March

Awhile ago I had the pleasure of reading Julie Anne Long’s most recenthistorical, What I Did For a Duke. I say it was a pleasure because not only amI a huge JAL fan (if you haven’t read her work already, please do so—you’remissing out), but also because this was the first book I ever remember readingwhere as soon as I finished I wanted to start over again.
Butthat’s from a reader’s point-of-view. From a writer’s point-of-view, whatreally struck me about this book is that although it could have been a typicalrevenge plot where the hero gets back at the heroine’s brother by breaking theheroine’s heart, (warning! partial spoiler below)

Ms.Long instead surprised me partway through the book by having the heroinerealize that this was the hero’s intention. I admit it, I was stunned. Here Iwas, sure that the hero would succeed in his plans, make the heroine fall inlove with him (while he falls in love with her, of course), and then at the endwhen she finds out what his true intentions were from the beginning, therewould be drama (!) and angst (!). Yet Ms. Long completely turns thatpredictable plot upside down by having the heroine figure out the hero’sintentions before he could break her heart.

Whatdid this do?
1)     Mostimportantly, I was even more excited to continue reading than I had beenbefore, because now I had no idea what to expect.
2)     Itmade me believe that the heroine was an equal match for the hero, which isn’talways the case with plots like this.
3)     Itmade me even more envious of Ms. Long’s genius.
Italso, however, made me wonder why we writers sometimes choose to take the easyway out. Is it because we’ve read certain tropes before and know that they cansucceed, thus we want to emulate their success for ourselves? Or is it becausewhen we brainstorm ideas, we choose something from the first three options,never daring to explore beyond the predictable?
Icould challenge you to copy from Ms. Long by choosing a common plot device andthen turning its on its head to make it unique—and I’m sure each of us couldfind a way to do that without much effort. (Throw in a rabbit here, a redherring there.)
Butinstead, I’m going to challenge you to dig a bit further. Specifically, whatcharacter(s) can you give knowledge to of an event/person/thing, etc. that iscurrently ignorant of that event/person/thing as the story stands? For you see,giving your character knowledge—whether he chooses to reveal it to anyone elseor not—makes him stronger and smarter in the reader’s eye, and it also makesthe story more complex and fresh.
Thinkof the heroine dressing up as a man and becoming the hero’s best friend. Whatif the hero knows the heroine is pretending, instead of questioning why he’ssuddenly experiencing sexual awareness toward a member of the same sex whenhe’s never done so before? (I have to admit, I like my heroes to be smart,too.)
Thinkof two ex-lovers reunited by circumstance. Instead of them both being attractedto each other still and constantly questioning whether the other person lovesthem, have one of the characters confident of their love being reciprocated.What other reason would they have to keep them at a distance?
Theseare just a couple of examples off the top of my head, and I’m sure you can comeup with better ideas when you look at your specific characters. Figure out whatthey currently don’t know (this could be about anything), then change it so thatthey do know. This can deepen notonly your characters and your story, but also create something that might oneday make your readers stand in awe and rave about your incomparable genius.(Here’s to you, Ms. Long. J )
What other book(s) can you think ofwhere a character’s knowledge turned what could have been a predictable plotinto something astounding?
AshleyMarch is a historical romance author who lives in Colorado with her adoring (oris that adorable?) husband, her two young daughters, and their dog. Her latestbook, ROMANCING THE COUNTESS, was released by NAL Penguin in September 2011,and she is currently psychoanalyzing the characters of her next two projects:the story of Joanna and Ethan, two secondary characters from her Victoriandebut; and the first book in a series set in 1920s Long Island.

 

 



“...a sexy, sizzling tale that is sure to have readers begging for more!"
–Jo Davis, author of I SPY A DARK OBSESSION

 

 

CRASH INTO YOU is now available for pre-order!

Read an excerpt here.


All content copyright of the author. Please ask permission before re-printing or re-posting. Fair use quotations and links do no require prior consent of the author. ©Roni Loren 2009-2011 |Copyright Statement|

 

Voice Matters: Does Yours Fit Your Genre? by Ashley March

Hello, all! It's genre Monday and today I have the lovely and talented Ashley March, historical romance author extraordinaire, to talk with us about the ever-important voice.

Take it away, Ashley...

Voice Matters by Ashley March

I recently decided to try to write my first contemporary romance. I had great characters, a great storyline, and I figured it would be as easy to write as my usual Victorian romances. However, I realized very quickly that I had a big problem I never expected: I couldn’t find my contemporary romance voice.

We’ve all heard that each author has their own voice, but I believe that each author also has their own genre/sub-genre voice. Authors who write both romance and YA aren’t going to have the same voice, and the same is true for authors who write both historical and contemporary romance. As I struggled with finding my voice for contemporary romance, I realized that this is something I don’t often hear writers talking about. But the truth is this: voice matters not only as a means of making you stand out from among the crowd, but also as a means of putting you in the right crowd.

I’m a writer who believes in giving back to other writers and the writing community, and one of the ways I do this is by sometimes critiquing partials or fulls of pre-published writers. Often one of the comments that I have to make time and time again is that the writer’s voice sounds anachronistic. They’re using words that wouldn’t have been used in a certain period, or sometimes, even if those words were used, the phrasing simply sounds modern. As someone who pays a lot of attention to words—not only which words are chosen, but the rhythm of words, or how they sound when read—I know there’s a difference that can be seen in the voice of historical romance authors versus the voice of other romance sub-genres, and this difference is important. Not only can the right voice for a genre/sub-genre help the story feel more authentic, it can also help draw your reader more quickly into your story.

I thought this point would best be made through examples.

Here is a contemporary excerpt  (from Teresa Medeiros’ GOODNIGHT, TWEETHEART):

According to the page that popped up, Abby was now Abby_Donovan and she already had seventeen Followers. Having "Followers" made her feel like some sort of kooky religious cult leader. An empty box invited her to answer one simple question—"What's happening?"
Her fingers hovered over the keys, torn between typing, "None of your business" and "I'm sipping Cristal on the beach at St. Tropez with Brad Pitt."
Sighing, she finally settled on the truth: "I'm feeling sorry for myself." She hit the Update button and waited.

Here is a historical excerpt (from Teresa Medeiros’ THE DEVIL WEARS PLAID):

For the first time since he'd muscled his way into the abbey, the stranger's mocking gaze flicked toward her. Even that brief glance was enough to bring a flush stinging to Emma's fair cheeks. Especially since his words held the undeniable and damning ring of truth.
This time it was almost a relief when Ian Hepburn once again sought to impose himself between them. "You may mock us and pretend to be avenging your ancestors as you always do," he said, a sneer curling his upper lip, "but everyone on this mountain knows that the Sinclairs have never been anything more than common cutthroats and thieves. If you and your ruffians have come to divest my uncle's guests of their jewels and purses, then why don't you bloody well get on with it and stop wasting your breath and our time?"

*** 

            I specifically chose one author who writes different sub-genres because I don’t believe showing excerpts from two authors writing different sub-genres would be fair for our analysis. We need a real-world example of how an author uses voice to draw a reader into the specific genre/sub-genre she’s writing.

            As you can see above, Teresa Medeiros’ contemporary voice is far different from her historical voice. If I were going to describe her contemporary voice, I would call it light-hearted in comparison to her historical voice. The change can be seen in the way the sentences are structured as well as the words chosen and, I would also say, the way the author engages the reader. The contemporary makes me feel as if the heroine could be my best friend, while the historical invites me to be the heroine that could make such a hero fall deeply in love. One is light and flirtatious; the other denser and more dramatic. If we were comparing movies, I would say that it’s the difference between You’ve Got Mail and Jane Eyre. This doesn’t mean that all contemporaries are light—because they’re not—and it doesn’t mean that all historicals are comparatively darker—because they’re not.

            What it does mean, however, is that writing a historical isn’t as simple as researching a certain place during a certain time and writing the story that goes along with it. You must find your historical voice, and you must know your readers’ expectations for what a historical voice sounds like.

            The following are recommendations for several historical romance authors with very strong voices. You’re not supposed to try to model your voice after theirs, but you should read them. Analyze what is different about their voices and what is the same. Reading in your genre/sub-genre is always important to know your market, but with the historical romance sub-genre in particular, part of the escape into the historical world is having a historical voice. If you want to write historical romance, I would say that developing a historical voice is equally as important as doing research in terms of bringing a feeling of authenticity to your writing. Don’t be fooled into thinking you don’t need one.

Recommendations for historical authors with strong voices:

Sherry Thomas (tryPrivate Arrangements or Not Quite a Husband)

Julie Anne Long (try What I Did for a Duke or The Perils of Pleasure)

Anne Mallory (try Three Nights of Sin or Seven Secrets of Seduction)

Lisa Kleypas (try Dreaming of You or Devil in Winter)

Meredith Duran (try Wicked Becomes You or A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal)

Julia Quinn (try The Duke and I or Romancing Mr. Bridgerton)

This month’s must-read recommendation for both strong voice and for being a nearly perfect historical romance is Joanna Bourne’s

THE FORBIDDEN ROSE

A glittering French aristocrat is on the run, disguised as a British governess. England's top spy has a score to settle with her family. But as they're drawn inexorably into the intrigue and madness of Revolutionary Paris, they gamble on a love to which neither of them will admit.

How important is voice to you as a reader and as a writer? If you’ve written in different genres/sub-genres, what tips and tricks do you use for changing your voice appropriately?

Ashley March is a baby-induced sleep-deprived romance author who lives in Colorado with her husband and two young daughters. Her newest Victorian historical romance, ROMANCING THE COUNTESS, is a love story about an earl and his best friend’s wife who are drawn together after their spouses—who were having an affair—die in a carriage accident. Her approach to the romance genre and the books she writes can be seen in the tagline on her website:

Choose love. Hope in love. Believe in love

www.ashleymarch.com

And Ashley has a new book out this month--

Romancing the Countess (Signet Eclipse)

! Go let her know how thankful we are for her sharing her insight with us by buying her super fabulous books!

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“...a sexy, sizzling tale that is sure to have readers begging for more!"

–Jo Davis, author of I SPY A DARK OBSESSION

 

Writer Under Construction - 10 Things I'd Do Differently

I feel like over the last few months (and even now) I should have yellow and black construction tape wrapped around my head. Just like anything else in life this whole being a writer thing is a learning process. You do the best you can as you go along and do better when you know better.

And the hard part is that no one is really sure what the right way is anyhow. There's a lot of advice out there (including the stuff on this here blog). But for every post you find, you can find one contradicting it. It's both beautiful and terrifying that there is no definitive way to do things.

And this is most evident when looking at advice for building your platform and blogging.

Some things you'll hear out there...

Don't just write about writing because you're only reaching other writers. 

Write about writing because readers aren't visiting author blogs anyway, so you should hook into the network of writers.

Don't get a website until you have a book to sell.

Have a website when you start querying because agents will look you up.

Don't do group blogs because no one will know your name.

Do group blogs because it will free up more time for writing.

Social networking is the only way to be a successful authors these days.

Social networking doesn't matter, the only thing that counts is writing a good book.

You must have your blog on _______ (fill in the blank) --wordpress, blogger, your own domain, tumblr

And the people behind each of these views have totally valid points to back up their case. So I can't tell you who is right or wrong. But I will tell you what I've learned in my two years of blogging and along the journey of going from very pre-published to preparing for my debut.

How I'd Do Things Differently If I Did It All Over Again

1. Build your blog where you want to keep it.

This is the one that has caused be much grief these last few months. I built this blog on blogger. And I like blogger. I find it an easy, no-fuss blogging platform. I also like the community on blogger and love the people I've met over here. However, blogger isn't really set up to integrate with a real website once you have one. And moving your followers (and archives and permalinks) to a new place (unless you move to Wordpress) is pretty much impossible from what I can tell.
This doesn't feel like a big deal when you're just starting out and are happy to have fifty followers. But blogs can grow fast. I've pretty much locked myself into blogger now unless I want to start all over again. So that's why I've had to move to maintaining two blogs.

2. Don't limit yourself to one kind of topic like writing.

This is one Kristen Lamb has talked about recently. And I tend to agree. I made this a writing blog. I'm happy I did and I don't think I would have built the following I have if I had started up a blog without a unified focus. However, this approach does box you in a bit. When I wanted to start stretching so that my posts appealed not just to writers but to non-writing readers, I was left in a bit of a quandary. Some of you would be totally fine with me putting both romance-y posts (like my Boyfriends of the Week) mixed in with the writing stuff. And honestly, if I could've figured out a way to merge and move my blogs, I probably would've done that. But I also know many of you aren't really coming here for that type of posts and are only here for the writing stuff. It would've been a bit of a bait and switch. So that's why if I had to do it over again, I'd still blog about writing, but I'd mix in the other stuff as well from the very beginning so that everyone knew what to expect.

3. Only do the social networks you enjoy.

There is so much out there to connect with. I feel like sometimes it's like being in a bed strapped to all those machines and tubes in a hospital. Except all the wires are attached to our brain. It can become too much. So pick which social networks you like the best and focus on those. I like blogging, twitter, and tumblr. So that's where I put my effort. Yes, I'm also on facebook and google+ and goodreads, but anything I post at any of those is really just a feed from my other sites. If I totally dialed into all of them, I'd never get anything else done.

4. Think hard about the kind of books you want to write and what that author brand would look like.

This isn't always possible. I started out writing YA and ended up getting pubbed in erotic romance. o.0 Yeah, I know. Big leap. But this also meant my brand kind of shifted midway through. I'm always me, but I'm talking more about topics I covered and the "look" of my websites. I'm getting pubbed in dark, erotic romance and I had this bright, colorful Fiction Groupie blog. It didn't really jive. So that's why I eventually changed it to match the feel of my website. So if you know you're going to be writing dark horror, don't build your site with sparkles and puppies. You're not going to attract the people that are actually going to want to read your book.

5. Do hook into the community of writers.

I actually got this one right. Writing can be a very solitary act. I don't know if I'd have survived it through writing my books if I hadn't found lovely writer friends and crit partners. This is by far the best thing about blogging and social networking.

6. None of it matters if you're not writing and working on your craft.

Duh. I know. But it's SO easy to get so caught up in the social networking that you start sucking up your writing time. I have fallen into this trap because I love blogging and twitter. But writing has to come first. This is why I've been shifting around my blog schedule so often lately as I try to find the right balance.

7. Put your name on things and reserve your web domain early.

When I started I was just Fiction Groupie. I didn't want to put my name out there and *gasp* have people actually know that I was attempting to write something. What if I failed? But this was a mistake. You are your brand. Kristen Lamb says it best when she says, you can't go into the store and look for a book from Fiction Groupie. People need to know your name. Otherwise, what brand are you building? (And you'll notice I put the Fiction Groupie title back at the top this week. But I have my name on top. Now that I've decided to keep this a writing blog, I figured it needed it's name back to decipher it from my author blog.) 
As for web domain, go into this with the expectation that you will one day be published. You don't want to miss out on having yourname.com because you didn't spend the twenty bucks a year it costs to reserve it. So get thee to a service like Go Daddy and spend a few bucks to hold on to that name. 

8. If you plan to use a pen name pick one and use it early.

Made this mistake too. I used my real name for the first year that I blogged. Then when I decided to write erotic romance and wanted a pen name, I had to change EVERYTHING. Domains, email addresses, facebook, twitter, yadda yadda yadda. It was a major pain. Luckily, I kept my first name so everyone knew me as Roni and that didn't change. But on the logistic side, it was a bit of a nightmare.

9. Trust your gut and weed through advice.

Sometimes you (and by that I mean I) can get caught up in the "expert" opinions. Like I said at the beginning of this post. There is not RIGHT way to do things. Read the advice that's out there and then use what resonates with you. Different things work for different people. No one thing is going to work for everyone. So take things as guidance not gospel. (There is irony in me giving advice about not taking all advice. Hmm.)

10. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

I'm a control freak. That's not going to change. I tried a group blog on Tumblr and it quickly fell into feeling like I was back in high school working on a group project where I wanted to keep everyone on task. Not good. However, I knew when I decided that I was going to keep this blog on writing while maintaining an author blog as well that I was going to have to ask for help.

So this is where I get to the exciting news part of this post (if you've made it this far in this LONG post, lol). I am implementing a new feature here on Fiction Groupie. Every Monday we are going to have regularly occurring guests who are authors in genres other than mine. They are author friends who I know are great at posting about writing craft and publishing and I am SO excited to be bringing people with fresh and different perspectives to the blog.

So here's what the new schedule is going to look like starting next week:

Monday: Guest post from one of our Monthly Genre Columnists 

Wednesday: Writing/Publishing Post from me 
Friday: Fill-Me-In Friday -- best links of the week 
Tuesday and Thursday, I'll be posting on my author blog.

So join me in welcoming our five new stellar guest contributors!

♥ 

Julie Cross

 - YA Debut Author

(first Mondays)

♥ 

Ashley March

 - Historical Romance Author

(2nd Mondays)

♥ 

Suzanne Johnson

 - Debut Urban Fantasy Author

(3rd Mondays)

♥ 

Joan Swan

 -Suspense/Thrillers - Debut Romantic Suspense

(4th Mondays)

♥ 

Sierra Godfrey

 - Women's Fiction & Marketing

(5th Mondays)

See all their

bios and books here

!

I hope that you all are as excited as I am about the new re-re-re-revamping. :)  Thanks for sticking with me through all my changing as I continue to figure things out as I go along.

Now, I'd love to hear what you've learned since you started this whole writing thing. What would you do differently? Do any of the points on my list scare you? Oh, and if anyone knows any brilliant way to combine my blogs all onto my squarespace and still keep followers and archives, let me know--I'll love you forever.

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All content copyright of the author. Please ask permission before re-printing or re-posting. Fair use quotations and links do no require prior consent of the author. ©Roni Loren 2009-2011 |Copyright Statement|

Guest Blog: Author Ashley March on Character Emotions (and contest!)


Today I have an extra special treat for you. Historical Romance author Ashley March is here to talk to us about character emotions. And believe me, this chica knows what she's talking about. Her characters are vivid and spunky and full of attitude. Seriously, if you haven't picked up Ashley's debut yet, Seducing the Duchess, you are missing out. Such a fun and heartfelt read. 


Now I hand it over to Ashely. And make sure your read all the way to the bottom. There's a prize up for grabs! :)

Building Reader Rapport through Characters’ Emotions

When I started thinking about a topic to write about for my guest blog on Fiction Groupie, I knew that picking the right one would be difficult. After all, Roni is phenomenal with all the information she shares with us (yes, I’m a reader of the blog, too!), and I know that a lot of you could probably teach me how to write better. J In the end, I decided to blog about something that has helped me the most on my journey as a writer.

First, if you haven’t read Characters & Viewpoint, a Writer’s Digest book by Orson Scott Card, go buy your copy right now.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably read dozens of books about writing a novel. And just like me, you probably haven’t read most of them. But trust me, Characters & Viewpoint is one that you definitely want to read with your highlighter out and ready to go. I’ve heard a lot about how to create great characters, but the idea that was suggested by Orson Scott Card and has stuck with me since is this:

If you want readers to care about your characters, give them something to care about.

Sounds simple, and honestly, it is. But this idea isn’t talking about making your characters miserable just for the sake of entertaining your readers. It’s about getting your readers invested in your story and getting their emotions engaged. And the best way to build this kind of reader rapport is through the showing of your characters’ emotions.

We’ve all heard how important it is to show and not tell when writing description. Instead of “It was a windy day”, try “The leaves scattered across the yard, a frenzied kaleidoscope of autumn colors harkening another Halloween to be spent splashing through the rain.”

The same idea carries over for character emotions. Don’t say, “Adam felt angry.” Don’t even say “Adam’s blood boiled”; this is only a cliché way of saying the same thing. Instead, try to show Adam’s physical response to the correlating emotion. Does he punch his fist through a wall, slam it on a desk? If he can’t respond physically, maybe internally he swears, is sarcastic, or daydreams about physically injuring Peter while Peter gloats about the new promotion he received.

But there’s more. Why should we feel upset that Adam isn’t getting the promotion? We care because from the very beginning of the story, you’ve been building sympathy in us by showing his emotional stakes in other aspects of his life. Maybe he needs the promotion because he’s screwed up in so many other ways that his wife no longer has any respect for him. Maybe his child is sick with leukemia and he needs the better salary to pay for unexpected medical bills. Maybe Peter stole Adam’s fiancée and Adam thought he could show her that he was a better man by getting the promotion over Peter.

Make the reader care by giving them a reason to care. Show your characters’ emotions to invoke a similar, sympathetic response in your readers. Up your characters’ emotional stakes by revealing what’s at stake in the plot. If you’re able to do this and get your reader invested in your character, they’ll become invested in the story. They’ll turn page after page not because you’ve written the next episode of Jack Bauer’s 24 and the entire world is going to end, but because they care about the characters.

This kind of reader rapport is the kind where you actually get a physical ache in your chest when Rhett leaves Scarlett at the end of Gone with the Wind.  It’s what makes you cry for Robert when his pet pig is butchered in A Day No Pigs Would Die. (Seriously—I remember my entire 8th grade English class sobbing at the scene when Pinky dies.) That’s the sort of emotional investment you want to create; that’s what will make your characters and your story memorable.

Although I wish I could give many more ways to build this rapport, this post is only meant as an overview. I really encourage you to read Characters & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. It is a book that entirely changed the way I wrote and the type of characters that I created. Because I think Characters & Viewpoint is so awesome, I’m going to give away a copy to a random commenter. Just comment below and tell us about a book or scene that really elicited an emotional response from you because of the way the author wrote the characters and their emotions.


Ashley March (www.ashleymarch.com) is an historical romance author of Victorian romances that are sometimes sexy, sometimes funny, and always emotional. While you’re reading this, Ashley’s sitting at home on a couch trying to brainstorm her next book while she watches her 20-month-old daughter throw a tantrum and tries to keep her 3-month-old from spitting up on Ashley’s third shirt of the day.





Thanks so much to Ashley for stopping by! Feel free to ask her any questions in the comments. And don't forget to follow her instructions above to enter the contest!

Get A Partial Read by Agent Sara!

 

I know I usually don't post on Thursday, but I had to pass along this awesome opportunity to you guys. My agency mate, author Ashley March is having an killer contest. The lucky winner will receive a partial read from my super duper fantabulous agent Sara Megibow!  How awesome is that? And to enter is simple:

 

 

Eligibility
1) You must have participated in NaNoWriMo this month.
2) Your work is either romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, YA, middle-grade, commercial fiction, or women’s fiction (seewww.publishersmarketplace.com/members/SaraMegibow or www.nelsonagency.com for more info about preferences).
3) You must comment on ASHLEY'S POST (not this one) by Tuesday, November 30th.
One random commenter will be drawn on Wednesday, December 1st to submit their first 30 pages of their completed NaNoWriMo project to Sara by Tuesday, December 7th (no query letter necessary).

 

So get your tushies over to Ashley's blog and while you're at it, buy her book Seducing the Duchess--it's made of awesome. : )

Good luck everyone!

Why You Should Read Debut Authors

 

We all have our favorite authors, the ones we go back to again and again. The ones we buy no matter what the story may be about because we know they won't let us down. And this is a great thing. We want to support those authors who always manage to sweep up into their stories and leave us satisfied at the end. That's the kind of author we all strive to be.

 

However, sometimes that means we can get into a pattern of only reading those go-to authors and we miss out on all the new authors breaking in. It's hard sometimes to part with money and take a risk on a new author, but here's why I think we should:

1. Debut authors offer us a glimpse into stories that captured an editor's (and usually agent's) attention. These are breakthrough books. These stories were so good, they beat all the odds and got the book deal. We can learn from that.
2. Debut authors were "one of us" (the unpubbed/pre-pubbed) not that long ago. We know how hard it was for them to get to the point they're at, so don't we want to support them and  help them be successful?
3. Because these stories got to this point, you're probably going to end up with a really great read and maybe a new author to add to your favorites list!


And if you're looking for suggestions for a debut author...

 

 

Seducing the Duchess


My agency-mate, Ashley March's Seducing the Duchess was released this week. I'm 2/3 of the way through reading it and it is fabulous.  So much fun.

 

Here's the blurb (from Amazon):

Love and marriage don't have to be strangers... 

Gambling. Carousing. Flirting. Charlotte, Duchess of Rutherford, will do anything to escape her painful marriage and force her husband to divorce her. But when Phillip, Duke of Rutherford, promises a divorce if Charlotte will help him become a better husband for another woman, she wonders if she really wants to lose him...

 

Now how can you resist that hook? :)


So what debut author have you read lately that you'd recommend? Do you tend to stick to your favorite authors or do you venture out and try new ones?

**Today's Theme Song**
"Break Out" - Foo Fighters
(player in sidebar, take a listen)