Characters with depth

 
I watched figure skating  and noticed the best skaters bring more than skill to their performances.

They bring emotional depth. They connect with the audience. They resonate in a way that's long remembered.

How does this relate to writing?

I remember best those novels that made the emotional connection. I was a kid staying up all night to read To Kill A Mockingbird. And some years later did the same with Gone With The Wind. I devoured works by Mary Stewart, Helen MacInnes, Frank Yerby, Sidney Sheldon, Harold Robbins, Taylor Caldwell, on and on . . .

I traveled the world in books, relived history from the age of dinosaurs through wars and beyond, leaped into a future limited only by the writer's imagination. Much excitement, yes, but none of these books would be memorable to me if I hadn't felt an emotional connection to the characters.

How many novels did I read with pounding heart and fear that characters X and Y might not make it? [I wouldn't allow myself to check the last page.] And before it became a given that Romance novels ended happily-ever-after, I sweated through that black moment of despair along with X and Y.

I don't often relive those breathtaking moments; age has jaded me. Yet there are books I close and think, "Whew, what a read," or, more rarely, "I loved it."

I've read many books in which the characters walk through without leaving an impression. I'm not sorry I spent money on those books, I'm sorry the authors toiled for months or years on the novel and failed.

Failed with me, anyway.

Writer's quotes:

If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.
--Richard Bach

I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person. But these seemingly fragile people are the strong people really.
--Tennessee Williams

--Cat

Timelines and Outlines

 

 Timelines/Outlines


The first historical romance I wrote, a behemoth of 900 pages, single spaced, remains a fond memory. An abandoned fond memory.

I'll say one thing for myself as ambitious writer -- I was bold if I thought that novel might be published. I wrote with a lot of passion, a great thesaurus, and although I could tell the difference between good writing and bad, my own tended more to the purple side and exhibited a lot of ignorance about structure and plot development.

I started with every character's backstory.
At about page 200, the story began. I thought.

At page 300 the main characters finally met.

And so it went, until years later, older and somewhat wiser, I reluctantly put it down. RIP.

(I still begin each new story with backstory, but I've learned to place that part into an Outtakes folder for reference, and start where that particular story actually starts.)

I then began work on a story I'd vaguely plotted in my head. The beginning and end were clear. I wrote scenes in no particular order, planning to organize them at some point. Scenes multiplied as the story took shape, some elements morphing several times as new characters, new dramas arrived, stayed, or departed.

At some point I needed to list the scenes in order, so I created a rough point by point outline, adding one sentence prompts that would join the scenes I'd written.

This wasn't good enough. I needed a timeline to ensure the drought scene happened in summer, the blizzard happened in winter.

First off--the date the story began and a brief description of the event: example--train derails, A & B meet.

It became important to put the main characters' dates of birth in the timeline to keep track of their ages. Also, their parents and siblings, and various other characters.

Each important plot event received an appropriate date, so on it went.

Ordering my scenes became easy. Adding important ones and taking out needless ones made sense.

And I had the makings of an outline that came together out of necessity.

My timelines have all become outlines, usually after the fact.

To outline or not in advance is up to the writer, who learns what works for him/her. Here are four authors' takes on outlines:

I'm one of those writers who tends to be really good at making outlines and sticking to them. I'm very good at doing that, but I don't like it. It sort of takes a lot of the fun out.
--Neil Gaiman

The outline is 95 percent of the book. Then I sit down and write, and that's the easy part.
--Jeffery Deaver

The research is the easiest. The outline is the most fun. The first draft is the hardest, because every word of the outline has to be fleshed out. The rewrite is very satisfying.
--Ken Follett

In fiction, you have a rough idea what's coming up next - sometimes you even make a little outline - but in fact you don't know. Each day is a whole new - and for me, a very invigorating - experience.
--Peter Matthiessen

– Cat

Reading and Writing

 
Hill Towns by Anne Rivers Siddons.

Marital midlife crisis played out against the beauties and dregs of Italy. Truly a wonderfully detailed travelogue, dense with images of Rome, Venice, Florence, Tuscany...

Siddons uses words like an artist uses paint, and the results are stunning. The main character's name is Cat -- how could I not enthusiastically partake of this book's delights?

While the reader is meant to savor the word pictures, I found myself skimming segments in order to get to the action. Wading through the pretty lettuce to get to the tomato I glimpsed every now and then, to use a silly metaphor. Gorgeous scenery does not a story make. The characters are unique, well-described, properly flawed, yet I couldn't immerse myself in their travails. Their travels, yes; oh, silly pun.

Things do happen, the main characters change, but I was left with an empty "is that all there is?" feeling?

~

What did this book teach me about writing?

--My experience reading this book was uniquely mine. It spent months on the NY Times bestseller list, so many, perhaps most readers loved it. I need to remember people get different things out of books.

--I haven't the talent for writing beautiful vivid imagery that Ms. Siddons has. My descriptions consist of a few items that would catch one's first glimpse, then I rely on the reader's imagination to fill in the rest. I find, with other writers as well, that when I stop reading to admire the writing I am pulled away from the story. Also, as an unknown I can't add pages of details at a time when publishers prefer less, not more.

--While I have read and loved literary works, I've never attempted to write one. Symbolism and metaphors abound in Hill Towns. The story itself is a well-crafted metaphor, something I could not plan in advance. My rare symbols and metaphors happen by chance (as the lettuce one above) and are usually not seen as such till much later. I write genre. Sure genre can be literary, but literary cannot, I think, be genre. Clear as mud, right?

--My stories can't meander about leaving the (genre) reader wondering when the pace will pick up. Several times I set this book down and was in no hurry to pick it up again. I want my readers to keep turning those pages.

--Backstory. The first third or so of this book is backstory, relevant to the main theme, so it needs to be there in some form. In my (genre) novels relevant backstory, which I thought was necessary to show in depth, becomes a few sentences told by one character to another, or a brief memory.

~

Writing quotes:

Learn as much by writing as by reading.
--Lord Acton

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.
--Stephen King

~

--Cat

Villains

 

I was thinking of villains.

Yes, this story needs a villain. Abundant dire situations that must be overcome are not enough for these characters.

My villain PG did not spring ready-made into my mind, like some characters, mostly minor ones, often do.

He evolved. First he was just a name. My characters must have a name before I can write about them.  That's when I "saw" him. His reason for being became clearer. The first "reason" was rather trite, so I dug a bit and discovered the real cause of his villainy.

I will introduce him as having this trite motive, then at the proper time reveal the true nature that drives him.

I'll need to be careful that he isn't some cartoonish stereotype. He will be evil, but subtly so. Nothing worse than an over-the-top depiction whose very appearance screams BAD GUY! in your face.

I want a final slam-bang scene that disposes of this villain so the main characters can get on with their life. It's coming to me slowly, but there's a long way to go before I get there, so I have time to plan. Or the characters have time to let me know.

--Cat

another test

 

 https://www.amazon.com/Summer-16-Cathy-J-Dubie/dp/B0D47GZ78J/

 

https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Folly-Cat-Dubie/dp/1625268920/

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1625268920/

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW1BG1D4

   https://www.amzn.com/dp/B07SXBZBM2

Are you interested in 19^th century excitement, spicy romance, family loyalty? Drama abounds in Fortune’s Folly. Eden has big problems! After close calls with authorities, the specters of arrest, prison, even hanging became her new companions. Why had she thought she'd get away with her crimes?   https://www.amazon.com/dp/1625268920/

Are you interested in 19^th century excitement, spicy romance, family loyalty? Drama abounds in Fortune’s Folly. Eden has big problems! After close calls with authorities, the specters of arrest, prison, even hanging became her new companions. Why had she thought she'd get away with her crimes?     https://www.amzn.com/dp/B07SXBZBM2

 

https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Folly-Cat-Dubie/dp/1625268920/

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https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Folly-Cat-Dubie/dp/1625268920/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

 

Now on Audible! Fortune’s Folly — Historical Fiction with spicy romantic elements. When Eden’s father is sent to prison, she plans his escape. Needing money, she becomes the legendary Giselle, a beautiful, daring thief. Soon the hunt is on for her: Crown agents, Montréal police, an infamous smuggler she cheated, a brother-in-law she robbed. And what about the man she almost loved, the man who betrayed her?  

  https://www.amzn.com/dp/B07SXBZBM2

 https://www.amazon.com/Summer-16-Cathy-J-Dubie/dp/B0D47GZ78J/

 https://www.amazon.com/Summer-16-Cathy-J-Dubie/dp/B0D47GZ78J/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=