I am 52,885 words into a 55,000-60,000 word manuscript. Excellent! I’m just about there, except I’m having trouble finishing. I know what happens. I know who does what to whom and why. I know the black moment. I know the ending. I love the ending. So why can’t I get there?

Obviously this is a topic we writers know well. I’ve looked online for answers and found a multitude of blogs, including these ones by Holly Lisle, Sam Horn and Suzannah Windsor Freeman.

Holly Lisle
Sam Horn
Suzannah Windsor Freeman

The internet is full of advice and hints. I could spend days searching and reading advice. (The internet could also be a contributing factor to my problem. That’s why I’m going “off the grid” on Twitter, Facebook, blog surfing, etc until after National Conference!)

Some fellow writers have suggested I’m having trouble because I don’t want to leave my characters. They’ve become my friends, and when I give them their well-earned HEA, I have to leave them for new characters…make new friends (sort of like moving to a new school and having to make new friends all over again.)

So how about you? Do you have trouble finishing the book when you’re this close? How do you do it? What advice can you give me?

Cyndi
Cynthia D’Alba

This month, let’s talk about getting into the character’s head, actually becoming your character. In some ways, it’s a lot like being an actor. You are no longer “you”, but are someone else, with that person’s background, life experiences, education, prejudices all influencing character response.

Let me give you a real life example. Last weekend, I was at my local chapter meeting, i.e. Diamond State Romance Authors in Arkansas. We were sitting around chatting about how unusually heavy the traffic had been. Amy said, “It’s because of all the vets driving through town as they leave. It’s slowing everything down.” My reaction was, “Why are a bunch of veterinarians driving through town? Leaving after the racing season is over, I guess.” DD and Shayla’s responses were, “Why are there groups of military veterans driving through town?” What Amy was talking about was CORVETTES driving through town after a Corvette convention. My response was triggered by the fact I had just spend $200 on my dog at my vet’s office. DD and Shayla are both military veterans. Each of us had a different response backed on our personal experiences.

Writing from your character’s POV should be much the experience. Another example, a friend was writing from the POV of a physician. She (the author) has a non-medical background. She made a comment about the doctor’s heart “lurching” at the sight of the heroine, but we are in his POV. A medical person wouldn’t think “lurch.” We’re trained to think “skip a beat” or “palpitate”. A response is second nature, something that happens without thinking. So her doctor’s heart would probably “skip”, not lurch, although they mean the same thing.

If your character if a gardener, (s)he might think in terms of flowers or plants or dirt quality when analyzing. A chef might think in terms of flavors, or aromas, or spices, but a chef probably wouldn’t think in terms of dirt quality, as a gardener probably wouldn’t describe something in terms of flavors.

So can you think of any examples (good and bad) of where the author disappeared and the character’s POV really shown through?

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope my thoughts have helped with your Point of View problems.

Cynthia D’Alba

http://cynthiadalba.wordpress.com/

Today was one of those days that quite simply did not stop. Up at Target by 830 for shoes and dresses for the girls. Strike out on shoes, mall doesn’t open til ten. Managed to get everything at mall and get home by 1. Both girls are acting funny but I just figured they’re tired. No sooner did I set oldest on couch with water does she pull a Linda Blair. All over the couch. Couldn’t she at least have aimed for the floor? Got her cleaned up, couch cover (thank heavens) in the wash, then hubby comes home and wants to do yard work. The major kind that involves transplanting trees and bushes. That gets done, then youngest starts heaving. Oh and forgot about housework in between shopping and yard work and dyeing Easter eggs. And that was before I ran back to the store at 9pm because I had NOTHING for Easter.

So how the heck am I going to write a sexy, loving scene at midnight after a day like this? Well, to be quite honest, I’m not. I’m going to write a murder. A vicious stoning in an Iraqi village that my hero and heroine have to try and stop. (This WIP is not my women’s fiction project, in case you were wondering;)

But the only reason I’m writing that scene is because a, it needs to be written, b, I’ve been avoiding it for a week, and c, I can’t move forward on my revisions until I get it done. Oh and I’m not tired yet, either.

Getting into the mood after an insane day is a tough one and honestly, it’s not easy. I usually have to go back and reread where my characters were the last time I left them is one way I slip back into the scene. Looking at notes frantically scribbled either on my note pad or document notes also helps pull me back into the story.

Music is one way that is almost guaranteed to put me in the mood. I have soundtracks made up for each of my books. For my women’s fiction WIP, the song that will put me right there in the scene, whichever scene I need is Red’s Mystery of You. Its a haunting song that symbolizes everything about the trouble between my hero and heroine.

Finding the right way into your piece after an insane day where you’re lucky you can take a long enough shower to shave your legs is tough but we’re writers, right? That’s what we do. So I’d love to hear how you slip into that scene and find the right mood when what you’d rather be doing is sitting on the couch drinking a beer.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a character to stone.

Jessica Scott
www.jessicascott.net

I’ve heard POV described many different ways from many different authors and lecturers. I’ve thought about it, read books conscious of how the author is using points of view, and I’ve finally decided this is how I view POV. I’m not saying I’m right nor am I an authority on the subject, but for me, these varying levels of POV work for me. Maybe they’ll work for you, too.

Now I’ll be honest with you. When I first started writing, I had no idea what the abbreviation “POV” meant. Even after I heard the phrase “point of view” all the ramifications of being in a character’s POV meant very little. The first story I wrote (which I must confess, I thought was BRILLIANT, at the time…not so much now!) had five (yes, you read that right…FIVE!) POV changes in the first ten pages and two of them were dogs. Sigh. I had so much to learn. After hearing about, reading about, and trying to write good stories with clean points of view, I’ve decided that POV can be different depth or levels.

For the examples in this month’s blog, I’m pulling from Chick With A Charm, Vicki Lewis Thompson, ©2010.

LEVEL ONE: The first explanation for point of view –and what I consider to be a level one understanding—was one we have all heard…point of view like looking through the lens of a camera. What you see through that lens is what your character sees. If your character can’t see it, then you can’t write it in character POV. Well, that’s a beginning but it’s far from everything POV can entail.

This example is from Griffin’s POV: Lily, dressed in a tight black top, skinny jeans and boots was already on her way to their table with smiles for everyone and an extra wink for Griffin. This is what Griffin is seeing. Level One POV. A description of scene in front of him.

LEVEL TWO: This tier engages the character’s senses other than sight, pulling from the other four senses to draw a more complete picture of the character is experiencing in addition to sight.

In this example, we are in Lily’s POV: From inside the shower came the sound of a washcloth slapping against wet skin. She can’t see the action, but she hears and interprets what she hears or what she thinks she’s hearing.

LEVEL THREE: But to really get into your character’s POV, we need to dig a little deeper. How does your character interpret the sensory input from levels one and two? If your character grew up active in scouting, spent many nights camping under the stars, cooking over an open flame, the smell of wood burning might evoke a pleasurable mood. However, if your character’s home burned down and she lost everything in the fire, the smell of wood burning might evoke a flight or fight response, so a romantic bonfire becomes something much different. Or if your character is a fireman, the smell of burning wood might spring him/her into a call to action.

This is one of the reasons we writers spend so much time learning about our characters’ histories. Without knowing your character, you can’t know how he/she will interpret the sensory inputs from level one and two.

For Level Three, I have two examples. Continuing with the scene from Level Two above, (after Lily hears the washcloth slapping against wet skin) Her libido perked up, but she told it to calm down. The reader is getting Lily’s response to the auditory stimulation.

For the second example, we’re back in Lily’s POV: But as she climbed the stairs, cradling the mammoth vase and surrounded by the heavenly scent of roses, she realized she’d have to call Griffin. Lily perceives the scent of roses as heavenly. They evoke a sense of pleasure, of caring. For someone else who’d had a prior negative experience with roses, such as smelling the roses at a loved one’s funeral, the scent of roses might evoke dread or even fear.

Next month, we’ll talk about digging deeper into POV by getting into your character’s head.

Join me then.

Until then, drop by my other blogging gig… http://cynthiadalba.wordpress.com/

Okay, you’d think I’d know a little about plotting, but truth is, I’m what we call a “pantser.” I write from the seat of my pants. Most of my ideas for novels come from fascination with a certain character. I think about character for a while, then figure out a location, and a specific incident that will hook the reader into the book. From there, things seem to flow naturally. But what happens when they don’t?

One of my favorite things to try is an online class from RWA, either an individual chapter, or from RWA Online Chapter, which I’ve joined. I find them invaluable, taught by pros with good clear advice and critiquing feedback. The other nice thing is the price. Compared to the online classes I instruct for Writer’s Digest, they are very affordable. You’ll find these classes promoted on the RWA-WF e-mail log as well as other RWA links. I took an RWA Online plotting class from Kara Lennox called Plot Doctor: Fixing Your Story. In this class she also discusses sub-plots for bigger books. If she repeats that class, take it. Even if it’s your fifth book, take it. It will be some of the best money you ever spend.

And you can check out other blogs for advice. Writer’s Digest has a newsletter they will send you free for the asking. At the bottom they have several helpful blog links containing advice about many subjects. It was WD’s blog topic of How to Make Your Novel a Page Turner, by Elizabeth Sims, that led me to volunteer to blog for our chapter this month. (And I’m mentioning that blog now because I’ll be using more ideas from it later.)

First Sims’ article speaks about the importance of suspense in plotting. Then she writes on the topic of PLOT FROM THE GUT. I realize that’s the way I do most of my plotting. And IT WORKS! Or it works most times, that is, the combination of always creating suspense in my work, and letting the plot come from my gut.

Apparently, my subconscious is working all the time on the plot and when I reach a certain point, it throws out some ideas that I pick up and run with. Sometimes they come in the form of dreams, sometimes daydreams. Sometimes I just sit down and my characters take over and plot happens.

But invariably, I reach a point where I get stuck. That’s when I have to stop trusting my GUT and look elsewhere for plotting help. There are books on plotting, seminars, classes and blogs.

A moment I remember distinctly occurred at a seminar I attended in 2009, where the speaker—Todd Stone, The Novelist’s Book Camp—said to ask yourself questions about your heroine. One question was, “What one thing would your heroine never DO?” Then have her do it. Write the scene about what your heroine would never do. My heroine in that book (which I’m revising now) would never go outside naked. She absolutely would not go outside naked.

What one thing would she never SAY? She’d never say, “I hate you,” to anyone. Okay, write a scene where she tells someone she hates him/her.

And what would she never THINK? She’d never think, I will kill him. She might think she wanted to kill him, but she’d never reach the point where she would say she was going to kill him. Wanna bet? Take your character past the point of no return and see what happens.

After deciding my heroine would never go outside naked—she would die first—I wrote a scene where she did just that. In the big climactic scene near the end where she is running from the “bad guys,” I put her in a canoe that she paddles out into the Potomac River. Over her cell phone, my heroine is told by the FBI that she has a tracking device hidden somewhere on her. They tell her to take off all her clothes and dump them, as well as her purse and cell phone, into the river. And she does. She’s naked when the FBI arrive. They haul her out of the water, and an agent puts his suit coat around her (which adds some humor when she asks if they always wear suits). The big scene in the book came from my brainstorming what my heroine would never do.

Elizabeth Sims’ blog for WD suggests that when you’re stuck, try brainstorming all of the life-shaping incidents that might threaten your heroine. Write them down individually either on 3 x 5 cards, or using a computer program. Then see where those incidents might fit into your novel. Just by writing them down and putting them on the screen or on poster board in front of you, your unconscious will absorb the ideas/events and figure out for you where they will fit into your plot.

Kara Lennox says in her RWA Online class that we need at least three major turning points in each book and they need to be interspersed throughout the book. The first one should be roughly one-fourth of the way through the book, one at the halfway point, and one at the three-quarter mark. Using these guidelines will help avoid the dreaded “sagging middle.” As writers of Women’s Fiction, we want to be certain our books don’t sag in the middle, or we don’t get so caught up in so much introspective angst that we forget to keep the plot moving in a way that will keep our readers reading.

Are you stuck on your plot now? Or have you been in the past and have some useful ideas you’re willing to share? If so, please scroll down to the bottom and start a discussion on this important facet of writing successful novels: plotting.

Joyce Wells, www.joycewellsauthor.com www.joycewells.com
The Peace Seekers
www.jasmine-jade.com
www.amazon.com

For those unfamiliar with this group blog, our tagline is “Empower Writers. Entertain Readers. Understand Men.” That’s a tall order and not a venture Kelsey Browning, Tracey Devlyn and I undertook lightly.

We spent six months brainstorming the concept for Romance University. When we started talking about creating a blog we weren’t sure what we wanted. We knew what we didn’t want, which was to talk about ourselves. We’re just not that interesting. Well, maybe Kelsey and Tracey are, but I’m not. All kidding aside, we felt like there were enough day-in-the-life writer blogs out there and, if we were going to invest the time, we wanted something different. We also didn’t want the pressure of maintaining our own blogs.

We knew that if we were going to take the blogging plunge and put our names on something, we wanted to be proud of it. We wanted something that told editors and agents we were serious about our writing. After much discussion, we realized we wanted to offer new writers (and readers) a learning resource. We decided on the university format to reinforce an educational and professional image.

In order to provide quality content, we needed experts. We turned to authors like Brenda Novak, Allison Brennan and Bob Mayer for help. In addition, we contacted editors and agents like Lucienne Diver and Leah Hultenschmidt. These and many other professionals have graciously “lectured” at RU, sharing their knowledge and expertise, for which we are profoundly grateful.

On Mondays, we offer “Crafting Your Career” lectures where our visiting professors answer questions about the business side of writing. Fridays are “Chaos Theory of Writing,” where our guests discuss the writing craft. Since writing is a lifelong learning experience, these topics appeal to both new and experienced writers.

One of our favorite segments is “Anatomy of the Male Mind.” Each Wednesday, we explore the male psyche, and it never fails to entertain. Even if it is somewhat scary. If female writers want to portray men correctly, we need to understand them. Or at least try to! We recently did a post on the male hug where we consulted with RU’s “man panel” and discovered an entire language behind the male hug, or shug. (Hint: Don’t forget the shoulder slap and absolutely no lingering!)

We’ve also launched three “Lab” sections: Ask an Editor with Theresa Stevens, Managing Editor at Red Sage Publishing; Query Writing 101 with C.J. Redwine, urban fantasy author; and Wayne Wednesday with Wayne Levine, Director of the West Coast Men’s Center.

It sounds like a lot of work. It is. It’s a part-time job that offers no income, but I’m learning and making new friends with every post and that is priceless. It helps that the work is spread over three people and I have two smart, funny ladies I can bounce ideas off of or cry to when something goes wrong. Looking back on it, I wouldn’t do anything different. Being part of a group blog gives writers a presence outside of the books they write. There is no better feeling than an agent or editor recognizing the name of your blog and readily agreeing to a post. A reader recently posted a note on our lecture page thanking us for the quality of the lectures. I don’t think she’ll mind if I quote her here. She said her “avocation of writing has always left me feeling alone in the forest without a map. RU is empowering me to understand the landscape of successful authorship, publishing, and publicity.”

Gotta tell ya, that had me puffing up my chest a bit! Trying to become a published writer can be a brutal journey, and hearing a reader compliment our work this way offers a respite from the grind of rejection.

Finally, I’m going to tap into my fellow writers here. You’ve all been on this journey and were all new writers at one time. Is there something important you wish you’d known when you were a new writer? We’re always looking for fresh ideas at Romance University, and would welcome ideas on the types of lectures you would like to see.

Adrienne Giordano writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance. She has spent seventeen years working in and around the newspaper and advertising industry. After starting a family, Adrienne chose to work part-time as a marketing consultant to enable her more writing time. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Windy City RWA, Kiss of Death and The Women’s Fiction Chapter of RWA.

Kelsey Browning writes contemporary and paranormal romance with a hint of southern sizzle. [In her former life, she worked at one of the ten largest universities in the U.S., raising money and teaching students how to land their dream jobs. These days she pursues her dream job of freelance and fiction writing, which provides excellent benefits such as unlimited coffee and an office dress code that permits flip flops.] Originally from Texas, she now lives in the Middle East with her husband, son and seriously spoiled dog. She’s currently at work on the first book in a new contemporary series. For more information, please visit www.KelseyBrowning.com.

Tracey Devlyn writes historical romance with a bit of suspense. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America and Windy City, Hearts Through History, The Beau Monde and Kiss of Death Romance Writers of America chapters. She lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her supportive husband and their alpha puppy. For more information, please visit www.traceydevlyn.com.

Mentally, anyway.

Emotionally, that’s another ball of tinsel.

Bestselling author Albert Zuckerman said, in Writing the Blockbuster Novel (Writer’s Digest Books, 1994), “Conflict of any kind, from the most trivial to the most serious, between characters who have close ties by blood and/or intense relationships through friendship, marriage or love, magnifies what’s at stake for the parties on both sides.”

Recently, I experienced conflict (read that as “argument”) with a family member (who I’ll refer to only as FM) who had taken issue with my husband. Apparently, this FM did not like my husband and had not for oh, 20+ years. FM only tolerated him, and told me several things which I strongly disagreed with about how I treat family (apparently FM didn’t think I really do put family first), and that there was still hope for me so they had “not given up on” me yet.

By the time I managed to hang up, I was livid.

I won’t bore you with all the details of the ongoing wealth of zingers this FM has ready in their arsenal of insults and the judgmental behavior that has been aimed my way from time to time during the course of my life. Suffice it to say, this happens periodically between us – usually in my direction since I avoid conflict whenever possible – and I just have wait for my hurt and anger to subside enough to ignore it.

Until the next time, of course.

Thankfully, I managed to avoid having to see FM this holiday season since they live in a different state and our plans to visit had changed anyway. Whew! That was a close call.

What occurred to me as I read Zuckerman’s words, though, is that this can be the perfect time of year to mine our current or former relationships with family and friends, lovers or husbands, for those emotional conflicts that only loving family and caring friends can offer.

You know the truth of that old saying: you can choose your friends, but not your family.

Because we can’t walk away from relatives as easily as we can walk away from friends and acquaintances, the root of the familial conflict is much tougher to dig out of the soil. Past hurts burrow deep into the soil and lie dormant, like a daffodil bulb, under the surface until the conditions are right for it to poke its bright little head out – only to cause more trouble.

So this holiday season, as a gift to myself, I’ll make some notes about how I felt as FM analyzed and dissected my life from afar, through smoky glasses I might add. Those feelings and reactions can probably serve me well as I begin writing my next story, and the next.

Relationships are inherently prone to conflict when two or more people do not agree, do not communicate effectively, do not understand, or misinterpret what the others are doing or saying. Sounds like real life, doesn’t it?

Don’t we all have times when we think we understand what is going on, only to discover that there was more to the story than we had been told? Or witnessed others in the midst of a quarrel or feud and realizing in the sum or their lives this is but a minor event? Have you drawn on moments like that to incite the conflict in your writing?

Wishing you a peaceful and loving holiday season (with just a sprinkle of conflict to inspire your writing) and a very Happy New Year!

Betty Bolté

Love is never lost; it haunts the heart…
www.bettybolte.com

To keep your story moving and your readers turning pages, your action scene must come to life in 3-D. In other words, the scene must be Deep, Descriptive and Dynamic.

Deep:

Emotional depth will create empathy in your reader. If she can’t feel the character’s pain, joy, anxiety, fear or desire she will skim, skip the scene or put the book down. To avoid losing your reader, go into the scene with a plan. Decide what is driving the POV character in this scene. Running for his life? That one’s easy. What about a love scene? Is there something beyond lust going on? What’s your conflict? Maybe he is thinking love and she is thinking pure lust and a one night stand. Next, turn that conflict into visceral responses. Think about the emotions that your characters will go through, then make sure those emotions come across on the page. The advice to show rather tell goes double (or maybe to the 10th power) in an action scene. If the heroine is being shot at, she’s not going to stop and contemplate much of anything. Internal monologue should be minimal. Instead focus on a racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, sweaty palms, grinding teeth, clenching fist and the list goes on.

Watch out for telling—especially when it is inconsistent with the physical responses. “George had never been so scared in his life, he thought as he smoothed mustard over rye bread in the perfect proportions to compliment the thick sliced ham he’d purchased at the deli yesterday.” Okay—that’s a silly example, but you get the idea. What the character does and the physical responses portrayed must match the emotion of the moment. If he’s that scared he is unlikely to be spreading mustard. Assuming there is some compelling reason he must be making a ham on rye at this moment, he’s more likely to skip the mustard or slop it on. It’s very unlikely he will be thinking about the perfect mustard to ham ratio. Similarly, if the heroine is sitting in a dark closet with the bad guy moving through the house, she is probably not going to yawn. Instead, she may swallow hard or squeeze into a tight ball to try to prevent her shaking limbs from rattling the floorboards and giving her away.

As you’re thinking about the emotions and responses to emotions, always consider the characters involved. It is possible for an adrenalin rush to cause a character to do something unusual. A small timid woman may fight back with more strength than she knew she had. A non-violent guy may use force to rescue someone he cares about. But even these moments need to relate back to the character the reader has come to know.

We’re inside the head of the POV character and we know she’s got that feeling in the pit of her stomach like she swallowed a barbell. But how do we know what the other characters in the scene are feeling? Don’t worry, you still have plenty of tricks up your sleeve–facial expressions, dialog, grunts, yelps and other utterances. Showing, not telling the emotions of all the characters in the scene will create an emotional response in the reader as well. The more she cares, the harder it is for her to put that book down.

Descriptive:

Setting the Scene—Describing the setting is important in every scene, but it is crucial in an action scene. It’s distracting when a handy boulder appears just in time for the heroine to duck behind it when the shooting starts. The reader needs to have a pretty clear picture of the setting and where the characters are in space and in relation to each other. If you can’t picture it, the reader probably won’t either. Try drawing a picture or diagram that shows at least the basic setting. If you’re in a parking garage, how do the cars line up. On the beach? Is it sandy or rocky? Is there a dock or other man made structure? Watch out for continuity errors that crop up when you change the setting in one part of the scene and don’t make the change consistent throughout.

Showing the action. This means describing the physical movements so clearly the reader will have a movie playing in her head. If our hero suddenly develops a third arm you’re going to lose the reader. Watch carefully to make sure the character’s movements—sitting standing, running up stairs or climbing through a window follow a logical progression. If he’s on top, then she’s on top is there some movement to account for the change? If he ran up the stairs and ended up in the basement there’s a problem.

Dynamic:

Use diction and sentence structure to set a pace. Word choices are critical here. Use vivid, precise and active verbs. Short sentences and even short words help portray quick action. A long smooth sentence can portray languid, sensual movements.

Use the five senses. Books have an advantage over movies in that we can bring the reader right into the story by using the five sentences. A viewer may be stuck in a theater seat watching a movie. A reader can actually feel the wind in her hair as she gallops on a spirited steed alongside the hero.

Apply these 3-Ds to your action scene and it will pop off the page, alive and breathing.

Teresa Bodwell is the author of Western historical romances featuring a wide variety of action scenes from fist fights to gunfights and sensual love scenes. She is one of the founders of Unleash Your Story, a fun event that brings readers and writers together to raise money and awareness for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Visit Teresa’s website at http://tbodwell.com. To learn more about the Unleash Your Story event visit http://unleashyourstory.com.

What tricks and tips do you have for creating depth of character?

Who are some characters in fiction you have loved reading, and can you pinpoint why you love them so much?

Take a crack at these questions, or ask your own!