Find balance. Having too much dialogue can distance a reader from your story. They never get a glimpse at the character’s innermost thoughts. But, having too little dialogue can reduce supporting characters to caricatures. It can also be an indication the story lacks a strong enough conflict.
Most studies suggest that the majority of human communication is nonverbal, and that our words don’t always convey what we’re really thinking or feeling. Your characters might spout things they don’t mean.
Dialogue should mirror conversation between real people. To make sure it rings true, you can read it out loud, then cut out the things that don’t sound natural or that are just plain boring, like the little pleasantries we use in everyday greetings. (Nice day. How are you? The weather is nice.) And yes, people will catch you talking to yourself. They might even tease you. Been there, survived that.
JILL: Dialogue is my absolute favorite thing to write. (My least favorite is clothing descriptions, as I have zero sense of style.) I’ve been known to become so involved in writing a scene that I’ve called my own kid by a character’s name.
“Just a second, Breena!” (From Lord of Rage.)
GENA: I’ve done the same as Jill and accidentally called my children Jorlan and Katie after the main characters in my first book, The Stone Prince (now re-titled as Prince of Stone). I’ve caught myself saying dialogue out loud as I’m writing, and I often leave notes for myself in my manuscripts. BE FUNNIER HERE, SHOWALTER!
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel. Is today a good day to focus on dialogue?
Day 21
Reflect and Catch Up
Everyone needs a break.
We believe self-care is every bit as important as knowing how to construct a compelling scene. So, for the rest of the book, we’ll suggest one day a week to reflect on your story or to catch up if needed. Maybe you’ve fallen behind in word count. Or perhaps this is a time to give the creative side of your brain a break.
We know it’s possible to burnout from any task—even the ones you’re most passionate about. Hopefully these reflect and catch up days will make you feel recharged and eager to return to your book, ready to see your word count fly. Some of these rest days will offer advice from other authors, and some will give a piece of advice or words of encouragement that you might be needing depending on where you are in your novel.
Today is a great day to rest. Your mind and body will thank you.
Day 22
SEARCH: Memorable Meet—The First Encounter
Where would Sherlock Holmes be without John Watson? Could Harry Potter have met his destiny without Ron and Hermione at his side? These iconic relationships are part of what make their stories so popular. They didn’t have to meet at birth to share a special bond, and your character’s don’t either. Think about movies you’ve watched and other stories you’ve read, and the first encounter between two characters. Think about the heroes/heroines in your own favorite tales or movies. Does anything about their first encounter stand out?
While Hollywood has dubbed this first encounter a “meet cute,” we find the term too limiting. The first encounter doesn’t have to be sunshine and rainbows. It can be awful, wonderful, horrific, euphoric—anything! It just has to be important and interesting to help keep your readers turning the pages. That is why we call it “the memorable meet.”
If you’ve already written a memorable meet, great. Take an extra look to make sure it stands out. If not, start thinking of ways to increase the memorability factor.
Let’s look at some of our favorite fictional memorable meets.
JILL: One of my favorite tropes is mistaken identity. In my book Fun & Games, my heroine thinks the handsome man with a lanyard around his neck is the librarian. She asks him to help her find some rather embarrassing books.
GENA: One of my most memorable meets takes place in The Darkest Whisper. I like it because it’s bloody and mysterious. The hero stumbles upon a group of immortals trapped in glass-like cages. In one of those cages, there is a lone woman. The door opens for a split second, and she’s gone. A split second after that, she reappears with a bloody trachea in hand. It isn’t cute, but it’s definitely memorable and makes the reader ask questions.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 23
SEARCH: Adding Adversity
Characters have been introduced, scenes have been set, and your reader has an idea about where the story is going–but wait! Does your story need an element of adversity?
Adversity propels a story into action and brings your main characters together with a common goal. Good and bad. Will they hatch a plan? Will it go well? You don’t have to know the answer yet. Just consider this as a jumpstart for your plot.
Many stories start by showing the main characters going about their normal lives. Then something shocking happens, dropping the hero/heroine into an unexpected situation.
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, Harry lives under the stairs in his Aunt and Uncle’s home. Things start getting strange when a letter arrives inviting him to attend Hogwarts.
Still other writers opt to begin the story with the adversity itself. In the opening scene of the TV Show Lost, Jake wakes up wearing a suit…while on the floor…of a jungle. Although the viewer doesn't know what is wrong, they understand something isn’t right.
Whichever track you take, today’s readers expect that adversity to be introduced fairly early on in the story. Too much “before” time can be boring. Ask yourself: If everything changes for the character when
JILL: In At the Heart of Christmas, Quinn learns that the legacy of her family’s ornament shop has fallen to her. For Nolan, he loses his home and business in a fire on the same day, setting him on the path that would change his life.
GENA: In the book I’m working on as I type this—The Glass Queen—I have two points of adversity to kick off my story, and they feed off of each other. The first: when the heroine’s mother gives birth to her, then bargains with an evil witch to help save her dying infant...and the evil witch possesses the child instead. That is my opening scene. The second—when the heroine is a little girl and the evil witch living inside her head demands her due...a complete takeover of the girl’s body. The first is the ember, and it leads to the second, the wildfire—aka my plot.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Bonus assignment: Think about what would really throw your character off kilter. What’s the worst thing that could happen? What’s the best? What emotions would these events trigger in your characters? What actions would they inspire?
Day 24
SEARCH: Reflection
Now that you have ideas for the encounter and how to torment your characters with adversity, it’s time to consider what your characters will reflect on emotionally.
In real life, we must make hard choices. Take a chance on a new job, or stick with what you know? Buy a house or wait? Stand up for someone or sit aside?
Earlier, we talked a little about those hard choices your characters will have to face. Here, we delve deeper into how you can make those choices even more difficult by creating roadblocks to overcome, forcing the characters to reflect. One of our favorite things! It’s not everyday you get to make someone’s life miserable (or is it?).
One way to craft your roadblocks is to think about the major highs and lows your characters will experience. What will have to happen for them to reach those highs and lows, and how you can make the process more difficult for them.
Now it’s time to play connect the dots!
GENA: Be careful that you do not make the roadblocks and therefore the decisions your characters make too easy. When I wrote Firstlife, I ran into a “too easy to pick” problem, and that was, well, a problem. In the book, there are two realms in the afterlife. The light
and the dark. Both realms recruit people who are still among the living, who want to choose where they’re going to live after they die. Originally, I made the light realm too appealing. Because it’s the realm I would have chosen to live, I was biased against the other. I had to set my bias aside and figure out the appealing aspects of the other realm.
As for creating roadblocks and connecting the dots, I usually start with the grain of an idea. An immortal warrior is killed every night, knowing he’ll awaken the next morning...and die again in The Darkest Night.
Roadblock: He has a limited amount of time to try to save himself.
After that, I asked a trillion questions, many of them steeped in “what if.” Why is he killed? Who kills him? How is he killed? How does he awaken afterward? What if he is immortal? What if he is being punished? What if he’s cursed? But why is he cursed? Did he commit a crime? What if he killed someone important and his punishment has to fit the crime? How can I make this worse for him? How can I make it better? I kept asking myself questions until I had answers that blew my mind.
Your assignment: Double your daily word count today! Write roughly 500 words for your novel.
Day 25
SEARCH: The Hopeless Descent, AKA The Climax
The hopeless descent is the ultimate climax of your book. All the roadblocks, conflicts and adversity have led to this point. Everything your character has been fighting for is coming to a head. At this point, all hope seems lost. Evil appears to have won. Everything your story has been building toward has finally occurred, and your main character doesn’t know what to do. So what comes next?
Every part of your character's RANGE hangs on this point in your story.
When it comes to the end of your novel, what will be the climax? What needs to happen to reach that point? How will your characters fix everything when they get there? Challenge yourself to think beyond the obvious and easy. If it’s too easy for your characters, it might be too easy for your readers.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Bonus assignment: Consider the climax of one of your favorite novels or movies. Work backwards to determine how the author or director reached that climax. What clues did they drop along the way? What actions did their characters have to take? What emotions had to be pricked?
Day 26
SEARCH: Harmony
By now, your characters have triumphed against their adversities and roadblocks. They’ve defeated their foe and have earned their happily ever after. But what did they learn along the way, and did it come at a cost? Have their goals changed along the journey? Has their belief system or worldview changed?
GENA: I love when a character gets what they wanted so badly...and they realize it doesn’t make them happy, because it’s not what they needed.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Bonus assignment: What do you want your character to learn on their journey? Do their roadblocks and problems fit their growth? Now that you’ve planned your plot, work backwards to add additional details, events, or flaws that will make their journey more powerful.
Day 27
Constantly Raise The Stakes
Throughout your novel, circumstances will force your characters to make choices. Sometimes these choices will be a clear moral dilemma between right and wrong, but other times those choices will be murkier, like choosing between right and right or wrong and wrong. But what makes those choices matter to the reader? Well, in the past when you have been reading someone else’s work, what compelled you to care about their characters?
The consequences the characters would face, both good and bad?
A similar situation in your life?
A pure heart? A broken heart?
Their emotional state?
Their hopes and dreams?
How other characters treat them?
Use the answer to craft your own compelling characters! Just remember, readers need to know what your characters want most and what they are willing to do to get it. This will help establish what the characters have to lose and the potential for sacrifice, helping to raise the stakes of your story.
And don’t forget to advance your character’s RANGE at least once in every scene they appear. (Need a reminder about RANGE? Go back to Day 10)
JILL: I like to do something called “problem stacking.” I think of my plot in terms of moving one step forward, two steps back. When my main characters think they’ve fixed something, I like to give them another problem so that it’s harder for them to reach their ultimate goal..
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Day 28
Reflect and Catch Up
Don’t Stop At the Finish Line
There’s something I do every single day I write, and it helps me in ways I didn’t realize at first. I never stop writing when I finish a scene. Before I end my workday, I write the introduction to the next scene and leave bullet points about what I hope to accomplish in it. That way, I always have a head start the next day, and I can easily slip back into my story.
–Gena Showalter
Day 29
Flaws and Quirks
No one can relate to perfect people because perfect people do not exist. Since real people aren’t flawless or without quirks, your characters shouldn’t be perfect either. When it comes to fictional works, perfect characters can cause something known as “Mary Sue syndrome.” The only cure? More cowbell. We kid, we kid. But trust us, you want to avoid the dreaded MSS.
That means you’ll need to give your characters physical, mental and/or emotional imperfections. You can even give them a combination of the three.
Need help thinking of your character’s flaws? Go back and reread your character interviews. Sometimes their strengths can go hand in hand with their flaws. Is she smart, but has no filter? Does he care a lot but has trouble expressing his feelings? Are they funny, but can’t stay organized? Are they generous, yet needy? Do they have a great memory that prevents them from letting things go?
When it comes to imperfections, context is key. What works for a fun, quirky character might not work for a savage warrior bent on conquering the galaxies. Example: Clumsiness can be an endearing, humanizing trait in a school teacher, but not a surgeon or ballerina.
Flaws can also be the thing that brings two characters together. Do their flaws create a special bond? Like two klutzes comparing scars. Are their flaws and quirks similar or complementary? Like, say, two best friends who both love sending their friends things they hate, because it’s hilarious. (Cough Gena and Jill Cough.)
GENA: The day I heard Jill hated garden gnomes, I went and bought every garden gnome I could find, snuck over to Jill’s house in the middle of the night and peppered her front porch with an endless sea of gnomes. I soon discovered Jill possessed the same quirk, because she bought me a singing lobster—I despise toys that sing—then snuck over and took it back so she could send me ransom demands. It was such a joy to find someone with a similar sense of humor, with the same adorable quirk. Adorable. Yes. I said what I said.
Just like with beauty, flaws are in the eye of the beholder, and insecurities can be a plot device.
Flaws can also be understood and accepted. In our romance novels, we aim for the love interests to understand or relate to each other’s flaws in ways other characters do not. It helps create that special bond we mentioned.
Your assignment: Write roughly 250 words for your novel.
Bonus assignment: Create a list of flaws for each of your main characters. Think of how those flaws will affect their relationships and ways they’ll react.
Day 30
Character Fears
Fear is a primal emotion, and it sparks a survival instinct like nothing else. As an author, you can harness your own anxiety, dread and doubt to add layers of emotion to your writing, and thereby your characters. This is true of any emotion you’ve experienced, but today we’ll focus on fear.
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nbsp; You can give your characters your phobias or something unique. But either way, they should have at least one fear. Fear is relatable; it helps connect them to the reader. After all, who hasn’t experienced anxiety, dread and doubt at some point in their life? If your readers see a part of themselves in your character, they are more likely to root for a victory.
And when we talk fears and phobias, we don’t just mean external creep factors like serial killers, ghosts living in the walls of your home, or your car breaking down in the middle of the night. We’re talking about the deep-seated fears that strike an emotional cord. The fear of losing the one you love. The fear of being alone. The fear of having to talk to people in a social situation. You can use your own experiences to add realism to what your character is feeling.
All Write Already: Year Of Your Book Page 5
