The writer who creates villains, the reader who fears them, yet understands them...

When creating a villain one has to understand how an evil mind works. It is strange when writing a character who kills; how we become attached to them. We create the motivation that causes them to kill. Yet we have to foil his plan. It is a slippery slope for an an author. It's  strange how we become fond of them. How twisted their mind. Becomes our mind as the reader. I am a huge fan of a good villain. Disney is a one company that creates great Villains. The evil queen, Frollo from hunchback of Notre Dame, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty; to name a few. They do such a good job of creating a story that is plausible we understand the villains and their motivations. As a writer we must follow the same guidelines, and reasons for the bad guys to do the things they do. We must create fear for the life of our main character. Fear can be created through emotional conflict, family conflict, or physical conflict caused by villain. 

In that fear the villain must be a very good at his evil deeds. Blackmail, threats,  physical harm to increase the fear.   

Otherwise our attention is lost. We lose interest in the strength of our hero or heroine. They must overcome this obstacle, this villain. Sometimes emotional conflict is more difficult then physical harm. Sometimes a character can be there own worst critic, villain. 

 As I am creating a villain that will carry through in four novels. I'm finding different elements to carry him through all four stories. It is challenging especially in a series, to find a way for the good guys not to find him. But there must; be a good reason why. It must; make sense otherwise we lose the reader. If you the reader do not believe that this villain can truly succeed, or that our hero can overcome him there is no point to the story. Without our twisted villains, are antagonists; that create all of this conflict, suspense, our story is nothing. Even without a serial killer, or some action to cause our character to fail before they reach their happy ending there is no story. That my friends is the key to a great story, internal conflict, emotional conflict, physical conflict, these are all things that propel our hero forward. These are also things that propel our villain forward. If these are not in the story there is no story. So in conclusion, make sure your Villains are as developed, with backstory, motivations, conflicts, as your Heroes it will make the story more interesting, and you as readers will enjoy the story more. 

~Writing as in everything is a work in progress...Until next time readers! 😃 Jess~

The writer creates the realistic backstory, The reader can encompass that story!

I was talking about the importance of names last time. Now I want to talk about the importance of back-story. How it creates conflict, and emotion and moves the story forward.
I placed pictures of Audrey Hepburn here because One: I adore her, Two: I admire her. She was amazing in an all her movies. The real women was a humanitarian and advocate for basic human rights. My main character starts a non-profit to help other women so they have a place to turn too in any situation. Why did she start her non-profit? Well that is her back-story. So it is important because it gives us the answers to questions and fills in holes, and gaps, with action, emotion, laughs, and conflict. All these are needed to propel story forward. I can relate to Audrey in her movies because she is so genuine. If she was superficial or a snob I would not enjoy watching her films. I have tossed books because of that fact, non-relate-able characters, non-realistic motives. I am a firm believer in Plausible reality. This story can happen in any realm, universe, alien nation. Only if I can relate to that character and why they are there. What they are going through. This were back-story comes in. The who, what, why, and where's.

I have several favorite movies of hers, Roman Holiday ,My Fair Lady, Sabrina  and Funny Face to name a few One particular movie especially; Breakfast at Tiffany's. What a wonderful name Holly Golightly light an bubbly, flirty, it is perfect for this character. She is trained by O. J. Berman, to be in essence sophisticated call girl or prostitute. She adores jewels and men, parties, drinking and no commitment. If this was her only story it would not be very interesting, it would be dull, an I personally would have no interest in it. However her back-story is what makes her the women she is now. She wanted to make a better life for her an her younger brother, everything she does is for Fred, every sacrifice she makes is for Fred, she sells herself just so she can take care of Fred. I can relate to her, because I am a big sister and I would do anything to protect my brother or sisters. If she was not a big sister, or working to provide for her brother. I would have nothing to relate to. I have never been to New York, never bought jewelry from Tiffany's, etc.
When he dies she is overcome with grief. We were sad with her. Her past in the country, her previous marriage,wanting to get away from poverty, and farm life.This desire to change gave us the emotional reason to follow her and root for her success. It is the emotional conflict that pushes the story forward. Whenever you give a character a back-story it gives them more layers to play with, more characters to introduce and for readers to enjoy. As I was adding to my cast, I was created characters and people from my girls past, people from my guys past. It was amazing how much you can add with just one person from the past.  Below is an example of some to the questions you can ask you Character.
Several of my teachers in college suggested a Character profile, and a series of questions to ask them. One teacher explained. "It is as if you were on an interview for the newspaper." I love this idea because I used to be a newspaper editor in high school.  So think of questions you'd ask a nanny for you children, or questions someone woul ask you in a job interview? These are important because this is person you trust your children with, or someone you would hire. This is also where Character traits can come into play. Choosing a good balance between positive and negative traits makes it much easier for conflict to occur. For example: His temper, quick to flair. Her stubbornness, she will not compromise. I can see an argument right here!

Also its what adds depth and personality the one dimension becomes two, or three , or four dimension's. Like Holly Golightly she is described as: the naïve, eccentric, café, society girl. Even in that description she is so much more than that. She was a women trying to make a better life for herself and her brother. Yet all most people saw was a pretty face, or arm candy they could hire. All these things are additions to her story and her character.They can be created individually or can come from past experiences adding another layer to your character. It is so interesting adding layers. In our society today though it is appalling to me how women are labeled and judged by their face, or their weight. Kelly Clarkson is always being hammered about her weight, or Jennifer Garner being accused of being pregnant because she doesn't have a perfect plastic surgery tummy. It is just awful that women have to be criticized like this. So hopefully your characters are not plastic surgery perfect, they have flaws, freckles, frizzy hair etc. They are real. Because real women read romantic fiction.

Above quote is one of my faves of hers. I truly believe she speaks the truth. True beauty comes from within, and how you treat others. A cool few facts about the beautiful Audrey Hepburn the real women not Holly. Audrey Hepburn was the granddaughter of a baron, the daughter of a Nazi sympathizer, spent her childhood and teens doing ballet to secretly raise money for the dutch resistance against the Nazis, and spent her post film career as a goodwill ambassador of UNICEF, winning the presidential metal of freedom for her efforts...And history remembers her as pretty...Let's change attitudes and challenge preconceived notions. Let's evolve! Join the cause.Quoted from Actor and Director Rose McGowan's Facebook page.

We all carry baggage, so the fictional characters have to have baggage as well. Rapunzel? Talk about baggage, her mother for example is  so obsessed with beauty and kidnaps Rapunzel so she can have it all to herself. Rapunzel always has this feeling of not good enough, and she can't do anything thanks to her mothers obsessive tendencies they have contributed to Rapunzel and her views, like everything in the outside world is evil and they all want to kill her for her magic hair. Talk about paranoia right?
Rapunzel however is not timid, she is determined to see her lanterns and have an adventure even if this means going out into that evil world, and disobeying her mother. Heck she trusts a criminal with her care? If she was not afraid, if her mother had not said no their would be no story. She is fierce and loyal and has a mean right hook with a cast iron pan.Yet she also has that innocence and sadness. She has many layers even as a Disney princess. Her desire to accomplish this birthday goal is what propels the story forward. She gets the guy, and a real family in the end too which is awesome.

All of these conflicts are things that happened before our story begins. We as writers should have a clear picture of that back-story before we start. In a perfect world that would be the case lol. In mine however this book has been a process of years so the back-story has come and be added as I go. The chapters have changed from my original outline. When you are working on a lengthy book it is normal that this happens. I thought I was weird or unprepared. I have read and heard I am just like every other writer trying to figure all this stuff out as I go. That is also why I say all the time. Writing is a learning process its constantly changing as we are, and as our characters are.

In conclusion; I never understood how important a back-story was to my readers. When I finished my fourth draft, and had others read it. I had left out important back-story thinking it was taking away from my story. What it did was leave my story with all these holes, and questions, and it gave my readers no association with my heroine. That is the key to any story your reader has to identify with her. She has to root for her, want her to succeed and get her happy ending. I understood the happy ending part. I didn't thoroughly understand how conflict, emotion, and back-story propel that character forward. Now I do. So it is an exciting prospect to me that I have again learned something new about writing, and story development. So do your research and add your layers it makes the story so much more. Add those negative traits as well as positive ones, because we are all not perfect. They shouldn't be perfect either there is nothing to shot for then.

In my next blog, I will go into more detail on how different conflicts emotional, psychological,  and suspense, created from back-story we are writing now to add dimension to the story. Three great books to check out for more information on character development: Creating Characters;How to build story people, by Dwight V. Swain, Breathing life into your characters;How to give your characters emotional and psychological depth, by Rachel Ballon, PH.D., Writing a Romance Novel;For Dummies, By Leslie Wainer, Writers digest has tons of articles to on each and every aspect of writing characters.

Here's a link to one of the back-story articles: http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/write-first-chapter-get-started/weave-in-backstory-to-reveal-character

~Life is a work in progress as writing is...Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)

The Writer chooses the names, The Reader brings them to life! (Is a name, just a name?)

I am sure you have all read Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, it was required reading when I was in high school. I fell in love with Will Shakespeare words, before I fell in love with a guy. His language was so romantic and it sounded cool not matter how many different ways you spoke it, or how many different accents used. (This was a fun activity in drama class BTW.) I read every play. I knew every word to Romeo and Juliet.
 Yet, I wonder if I would have loved William Shakespeare had his name been something different like. Albert or Elmer? As Shakespeare said: "What is in a name? That which we call a Rose, by any other name would it smell as sweet."

This brings me to my point this week, How important is a name? Does it really matter? Does it change our opinion of the story or the character. For example my name is Jessica. I am not a fan of my name I will tell you why: Everyone has it. All through grade school, middle school, high school, even college I had at least 5 Jessica's in every class, they had to come up with nicknames sometimes it was terrible. I mean I am grateful my parents didn't name me something weird but, I would have liked something less popular.  I truly think a name has a major impact on the story and its audience.
I mean no matter how gorgeous the guy is described if his name is: Sir Oliver Loser... the first thing that comes to mind is Loser right? Even if the guy is amazing you'll be thinking during the whole book, hes a loser. I have seen this in lots of books. It somewhat ruins the story for me. The other one that frustrates me is names I cannot pronounce. Changing the spelling of common names is great too; Like Jayson, or Mykel. However,it needs to be the same pronunciation, something similar or you have lost the audience in a name. This is a point my college creative writing teachers really pressed upon. I have never forgotten it either.  So ethnic and historical names are great if the general audience can understand them, and say them. Otherwise it is difficult to become part of that characters life and there world if you are not connected, and it begins through the name.  To me the name draws you attention on the back of the book, just like the title and cover draws you attention in the front. This is just my opinion though. I am an avid reader and as such I am looking for these things all the time. My hope is that it will make me a better writer too.

This week I was putting together my extensive cast list for my four book series.
As I was going through my list I realized I had four different Jack's?? What? Now mind you some of these names and characters are ones I had written over ten years ago with the start of this book. So I checked out baby name web sites, and checked out baby name books from the library. I love doing this because I feel like my characters are my kids so I take care when naming them just like you would with your own child. As your child grows so does the amount of friends they have etc. Also I realized a whole family didn't have names, etc. So I thoroughly enjoyed myself while naming them all and there children. I even wrote little bios for each of them. It is silly, but my family has grown larger so I have become attached lol, to them. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; a name was the enemy, it was what kept Romeo and Juliet apart. It makes for a very dramatic play and story.
   

Characters and Secondary characters are what makes up a story. Some of my teachers had a firm belief that the secondary characters need to have as much back-story as the main characters. This works great for me because, I write in series so the same characters carry on to their own stories. This was a hugs drawback when I first began my story. I loved my secondary characters so much, I would jump from head to head, voice to voice, taking away from my love story and my heroine and hero. That I have learned is not what you want to do. I have learned to mention things small and little things here and their instead of huge monologues by them.

The coolest thing about a name I think is what it means to you, why did you chose it? When I chose the name, I can see the person, and they start to be real, it was an amazing discovery this week. With all that research in names, and characters, and small bios, I found new story ideas, and new scenes I can add etc. it opens doors when you find the right name. Keep in mind though when you are dealing with a period piece or a historical novel you need to make sure the name is accurate. I am pretty sure they didn't have all the Apples, and Kelsey's, and Maddison's that they do now. So its always important with cultural references too, specific cultures chose specific names based on religion, beliefs, family etc. so all those need to be considered too.

~Life is a work in progress as writing is...Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)

The Writer who counts her Blessings. The Reader who reads Charles Dickens.

 You know how thanksgiving is all about the food, and getting together. Mostly cooking for days and then hoping it turns out good. Well I think Christmas is all about the gifts. I mean all the advertisements and such that try and get you to buy. Your so busy trying to find the perfect gift you forget the price, you buy whatever is left. Or you are one of those people who shop the day after Thanksgiving and hope they don't get killed shopping for socks! It is so funny to me the complete polar opposites Thanksgiving and Christmas become. Yet they were both formed to give thanks for you blessings and your families, our freedoms. I am so glad there is still sanity in my house, we generally make our Christmas gifts, and I only buy things for the kids. It has become a tradition for me to make ornaments of some shape or form for the grownups in my family. I love the symbolism of the ornaments an how they represent special times, and memories in our lives. I am a sucker for cheesy Christmas movies too, and I have to have a real tree!! I know I am weird...

 As a Writer, it is all about the details and describing that perfect person, that perfect place, and the perfect scene and sometimes it is difficult. I mean right now, I have a vision for this scene and I cannot seem to create it on paper, so then I will look for visual aids. Sometimes I find them sometimes I don't. It is a process like this when creating anything. So I guess my traditions of making ornaments is like writing a book. Its a process and its different and unique each time. So I look forward to see what my family thinks about what I have created. So even my gifts are all about the details..

 The Reader me is always reading wonderful stories of hope during this season. My kids and I always chose to children from the giving tree and purchase gifts for them another one of my traditions...Christmas is that amazing time when people give more of themselves and help others I love it..Reminds me of my favorite Christmas movie and book. A Christmas Carol..Dickens has been a favorite of mine for years and years. I love his stories. I hear a lot of stuff about the man, but all I know is the stories. So if you have never read his book it is one that should be read!! Scrooge learns that giving is way better then receiving..He is amazing at his details, smells, sounds, you feel as if you are in the story! I aspire to this. Its amazing.

Quotes above and below are some of my favorites. Enjoy.

 ~I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens

I agree Mr.Dickens, Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed holiday season.

 ~Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)
PS I have three query letters ready to be sent out in January, cross your fingers for me..

The Writer who is Thankful... The Reader who is in search of Thanksgiving recipes?

 It is amazing to me that as I get older, I am still learning each day. I enjoy the challenge of learning new things each day. I have been doing this lately with recipes and trying new ingredients and different tastes. My family has enjoyed this too. All of them except my 10 year old son he is less then thrilled with new stuff but he has been trying it. I used butternut squash with a pork chop recipe it turned out yummy. Heres the link to that recipe by the way:

 http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/quick-easy-pork-recipes

This Thanksgiving was no exception. I am the oldest of three. I have always had a certain responsibility when it comes to holidays and in recent years it usually means I host the events at my house and everybody comes...So when holidays arise it is hectic.  This year was no exception. I was hosting and in charge of making the main meal! In the past it has been my house, I am the host and everybody else brings the food. I just show up usually because I am working at the hospital. So I have been spoiled I guess! I have made a turkey before but never for other people at a large event. I was very stressed. I was sure I would mess it up and everyone would be talking about the mess up till I die. My family is great that way. Reminding you in subtle ways forever, like the time at Christmas when the flue on the fireplace was closed and started a fire not knowing this and caught the wreath above it on fire!! Lol, I can laugh about this now. I am happy to say I didn't burn the turkey!!! No fires either!!!  So I learned that with faith and a good recipe food turns out very good.

 My most interesting thought while as the READER looking though all the cookbooks and websites. Was how a recipe is like a good novel. You have all these ingredients and temperature, and you make it and have faith it will turn out good. I think this is what in essence what writers do. We add all the ingredients, and after we try the recipe once, the next time we make it we change it to our tastes, or add other ingredients we like, and the recipe becomes ours. A good story is something that you read and you love. As the WRITER I am always thinking well if I wrote this story I would have added more to this, or taken this out. It is like doctoring a recipe. So I am still working on the recipe that I think will work best for my finished novel and I am creating a new one with my second  book.

  So I am very thankful for my family that keeps me grounded and my husband who gets me to laugh a lot when I am stressed. I am grateful for my friends who keep reading my ramblings and my future friends that will read my stories. Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you have much to be thankful for, and many blessings to reflect upon.

Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)

The Writer who's never been to a critique group before?

 So I may be the only writer on the planet who has never been to a critique group. I was trying to figure out why I had never been critiqued. My result I have been living in my story, and its characters for so long (10+ years) I forgot to ask what other people thought. Does anyone else have this problem? Every project I enter into is a complete immersive experience and I forget all else lol. I either have an all or nothing button. I use with everything in my life. There is not medium button.
I started editing my book and I have to stop myself from over editing. It is very hard. I worry I do not have enough, and then I worry I have to much so it is a precarious ledge I find myself on.

So when I went to a critique it was just to see what it was all about, and it was very interesting. I was intrigued by all these people and there amazing ideas and stories. So many different ages of writers too, There were retirees, college students, moms, teachers, college professors, and me just a working gal. It was also an affirmation for the Writer me, that I am not too old to chase this dream, I am not too old to get this book published. The moderator is actually a publisher and an editor so her experience is going to be so great too. The best part for the Reader me, it was fifteen books being read simultaneously  in two hours, it was awesome. I was thoroughly impressed by how the group was organized and run. Each person critiqued two pieces in a group of fifteen. Each person got assigned different books each week so there's lots of variety.  There is memoirs, short stories, children's, science fiction, young adult, romance, humor, and action adventure in this group. I cannot wait to go back in December. Unfortunately I can only go this group once a month. In my rotation at the hospital I only get one Tuesday off a month, this  group meets every Tues morning. So my stuff has not been evaluated yet. It will be next month though. I will have to keep you posted as to how that goes. I took most of last month off from my reading and my writing, I was a little burnt out I admit. We had a lot of family activities as well.

 Writer me, has been doing some study this month on the psychological aspects of characters.Characterization etc. I found a wonderful book at the library called: Breathing life into your Characters. How to give your characters Emotional, and Psychological depth. By author Rachel Ballon PhD... I was so wonderful in fact I bought my very own copy. I will have to keep you all updated on how that book goes and how this pertains to my new Character in my second book. Reader me is working on an 8 book series I just got from the library. It is action/thriller/romance which is what my second book in progress is. So its also research at least that is what I tell myself lol.

In reference to what I was reading, this last month. I didn't read much but my kids were reading a lot of the R.L.Stine Goosebumps series, and it reminded me of a favorite author I read when I was just 13-15. Christopher Pike, his scary young adults books were just what I needed when I went through my goth, and black period. I wore only black and read only horror Frankenstein, Bram Stokers Dracula, and numerous other titles. He was a wonderful author that focused on high school students and murders in small towns. They were fantastic. In the spirit of Halloween and last month. Here is the link to his page: https://www.facebook.com/ChristopherPikeBooks
http://christopherpikefanclub.com

Until next time readers, and hopeful writers. Jess =)

The writer whose dream to finish her novel has become reality!

Reading has been my thing since I was my son(10) and daughters (13) age. I was  one of the anti-social kids who always had her nose in a book. If you read my previous blog I also read in part to block myself from the bullies, and the snobs I went to school with. I equipped myself with learning anything an everything! My Mom used to pick a word from the dictionary and we would learn its meaning. So cool. Also nerdy,lol..

 I felt that knowledge was power. As a kid we never had a lot of money so we would spend our summers, and weekends at the library. It is one of the best memories I have. Libraries are the best invention next to hot water heaters as far as I am concerned lol..

 At Age 10  I wrote my first story. A women in the civil war, and it was 30 pages long. I still have it. I have since added lots of history to it, and changed it. That is one of my many books I want to write. So this is just one of those stepping stones to get published.  I do have two short stories that I published,  on amazon so its a start. 

One of the authors I started reading when my son was a newborn was; Debbie Macomber, She was a mom too, that wrote when her kids were young, and ended up sending out a manuscript and she used her last $ to do it. She was such and inspiration to me. I got to meet her in 2001, she was as lovely as I thought she would be, and so nice.  So she is the author I am selecting this time to highlight.

http://www.debbiemacomber.com, the first book I read of hers was 

~Lonesome Cowboy; it is a Texas series set in a small town. Similar to her Cedar Cove series. All her books are heartwarming an charming. Filled with great little towns, everyone wants to live in. So I hope you will check her out. She has inspried me a "nobody" to go for this dream and live it.

When I started this blog I was excited about my accomplishment. I had finished my novel. It took me 10 years and three months to write it. This book has changed so much since I started. I think is my sixth version.Those have all been stepping stones, and many stairs, I have climbed to get to this point. I think that life is always a work in progress. A journey and its moves in all directions, and sometimes not the ones you plan. That may seem like a long time, but in those ten years, I went to college, moved states, had two children. Worked in retail mostly, and watched several of the stores I had worked for close. I have had so many lows, and so many highs in that time. Yet I feel like this is a brand new start, and exciting challenge. I was unable to go to the critique due to family illness, but as soon as I go I will post my observations and what we are reading. Happy reading, dreaming, and writing! Jess