Fiction

Likeable Characters?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

How do you know if your character is likeable? #writetip Or at least sympathetic, or interesting, or has some characteristic that will keep your readers reading?

When I started writing, I couldn’t figure this out. Then I discovered it’s easier to tell if a character is unlikable or uninteresting. I started to look, and I mean seriously look, at books where I couldn’t connect with a character.

Things that bother me:

  • A character who’s having a pity party for one for tooooooo long.
  • A character that does nothing but whine.
  • A character that is all evil – really there has to be something more than evil.

To me, a character who has a likeable trait, any trait, makes them sympathetic.

Maybe they have a kind streak. Say the character is about to commit a crime, or has just committed a crime, and they stop and help a dog that’s been hit by a car and it lying at the side of the road. That might make me cheer for their escape – depending on the crime of course.

Maybe they put something or someone ahead of their own desires.

Maybe they have a sense of humour.

But mostly, they need to care about something. If they don’t care about anything, how can I care about them? And if I don’t care, why would I keep reading?

Setting in Your Novel: What to Include?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 12 Comments

#writetip

How do you decide what to include and what not to include when you are describing the setting in your novel?

I read Ken Follett’s novel Whiteout, and realized I didn’t skim a word. I started thinking about why I wasn’t skimming the narrative, something I tend to do because I’m not that interested in flowery descriptions. Others love it, but I like a fast paced story where I can relate to the characters.

After I finished the novel, I opened the first page of Whiteout and got out my pink highlighter. I highlighted every setting description. Since I’d already read the book, on my second reading I knew how the setting would be used.

I discovered that Follett spent time on setting description only if it was relevant to the story. This may seem obvious, and sometimes I need an idea to hit me on the head, but it became clear that I didn’t skim because I needed to know what the setting looked like to understand the latter scenes.

Try this with a novel where you didn’t skim any text, and see if you discover the same thing I did. There are so many ways to learn 🙂

Now when I’m describing a place, I do it twice. Once in full detail, so I understand and know it. Then I write it a second time, cutting what doesn’t need to be there and leaving the bits that will end up in the novel. These bits are the parts the reader needs to understand in order to believe and be engaged in the story.

When proofreading, I check for description that isn’t needed. Cut – cut – cut and into the garbage it goes. (Okay so really, stored in a folder on my computer but you get the point.)

Starting A Novel Scene

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

This week I’ve been thinking about starting points. On Monday, I blogged about when to begin your novel. But what about a scene?

Once you’ve decided when to start your scene, as in before the action, in the middle of the action, or after then action, what about how to start your scene?

There are different ways to do this. These include with:

  • Action
  • Dialogue
  • Thought
  • Narrative

To choose which one, I think about what I want to accomplish with the scene, what happened in the previous scene, and what’s going to happen in the next scene.

For example, if the previous scene was high on action, I might want to start the current scene with narrative, perhaps describing where the POV character is. This slows the story and gives the reader a break.

When a first draft is complete, the next step is to check whether the scenes begin in different ways. If all the scenes start with dialogue, the novel might be tedious to read.

As usual, I keep track of scene starts with a column in a spreadsheet. This allows me to quickly glance and check that I haven’t been monotonous.

What’s your method for deciding how to start a scene?

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Before the Story Begins . . .

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

For any author, the starting point of a novel is a big decision. Do you start before the beginning, at the beginning or after the beginning? And how do you decide?

For my fourth novel, Look the Other Way, I’m trying something new. I wrote 20,000 words of the story. With 20,000 words on paper, I have a good idea who the characters are.

The characters come to life, but not fully at this point. Next, I write character synopses that include the basic details, but also the story of the character’s life up to the beginning of the novel. Each synopsis ends up being three to five pages.

The synopsis format is informal. Point form will do. I don’t worry about typos or grammar, but I do get to know my characters.

This process helps me decide where to begin my novel. It’s a creative process. As I write each synopsis, I keep a separate document open that contains plot points or ideas. By the time I have all the synopses written, I have the full novel outline done too.

From this process, I somehow know where the starting point should be and what the inciting incident is. I chose the point that will drive the characters through the story. Too early, and the scene’s aren’t needed. Too late, and an important scene might be excluded.

Next comes scene writing.

Everybody has a different process for writing a novel. What’s yours?

Why is Character Development Important?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

While I spend time in Canada during the summer, I get to watch the news on TV, something that never happens in the Bahamas.

I’ve been watching how friends and family react to news, and I started thinking about character development in a novel and why it’s so important.

Witnessing a car crash, or the aftermath of a car crash, on TV can be upsetting, or make a person sad, but once the clip is over, everyone focuses on the next news clip.

But, what if someone you know is in the car? Then, I think, most people react a little differently. All of sudden, there is a vested interest in the crash. Were the people hurt? Are they in the hospital? Will they recover?

Why? Because you are personally involved.

I find if I can’t put a novel down, it’s usually because I feel like I know the characters and I care about what happens to them. To me, this means the author has done a great job of developing the characters. As a writer, I think it’s important for me to spend time on developing characters. Then maybe I’ll get lucky, and my readers won’t want to put my book down.

Step Away From Your Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

#writetip

How many times have you heard or read that when you finish your first draft, and I mean a serious draft, that you should put your novel in a drawer for a couple of weeks?

I never understood this until recently. I had three readers commenting on my updated version of The Final Gate.  While they were commenting, I decided to start work on my fourth novel, and leave The Final Gate alone.

Now that I am reviewing their comments and doing the final proofread, I finally get the importance of the advice.

I can see things I hadn’t seen before. Maybe it’s a passage of text that is too earnest, or maybe it’s narrative describing something I’ve already described. Without taking a break, I couldn’t see these things.

Even thought it’s hard to leave something alone that you are passionate about, I am now a believer in “Step Away From Your Novel.”

Write From Experience

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

#writetip

Do you have scenes in your novel that are beyond your experience?

If you do, why not try the things your characters are doing? Everywhere you look, someone writes about writing being lonely. Well, it doesn’t have to be. Writing can be your excuse to be adventurous.

In The Final Gate I have a scene where my main protagonist is in danger while snowshoeing in the mountains. Having spent many hours snowshoeing in steep, rugged terrain, I found it easier to describe than if I’d just read about it.

My husband gets to do all these things in the name of writing a good novel and is happy to pose for a photo.

Starting My Fourth Novel

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

#writing

Novel One, Novel Two, Novel Three . . . Now what?

I’ve eighteen pages of notes on my fourth novel, and it’s time to move location.  Three novels are set in the Purcell Mountains, BC, Canada.

The fourth novel (and I feel like I should play music here) is set in the Bahamas. It’s time for a sailing adventure.

It’s been quite the experience writing about the Purcell’s. A place I lived and loved. An isolated mountain resort provides a great setting for a romantic thriller.

But the winds are changing and pushing me in a new direction. This is not to say I won’t continue to write about BC, only that it’s time to try something new.

New characters, new location, new mystery. It’s all a bit overwhelming, but also fun.

Now to go back and read what I wrote about the writing process and make sure I remember it all.

Scene Locations

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

#writetip Where does your action happen?

Do you vary the locations of your scenes throughout your novel?

If you hadn’t guessed it, I’m going to mention my spreadsheet again. Yup, I have a column for scene locations. When I read, I enjoy a novel that takes place in different locations and has the characters moving around.

Sorting the spreadsheet by location tells me if I’ve used one location too many times. Maybe it’s important to the story, and that’s okay. But what if it’s not? When I see a location turn up many times, I assess it and see if I can come of with a more imaginative way of describing the scene.

Sometimes by creating new location, the characters surprise me and the story takes a new turn. Always an interesting process.

Spread Sheets and Novels

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

#writetip I don’t know how anyone writes a novel without spread sheet. The more I write, the more columns my spread sheet contains.

What I’ve discovered writing my third novel, Burnt, is that I needed to add two new columns. These columns are helpful if you are writing a mystery novel.

One column is used for clues to solving the crime. This means the reader knows the clues, but the main protagonist might not. This is especially helpful if you write from multiple points of view. If not, you probably don’t need this one.

The second column keeps track of clues the main protagonist knows. This ensures the character doesn’t mysteriously know something at the wrong time.

For a more detailed description of my complete spread sheet and how I use it, please see:

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