Tag Archive | characters

Author Confessions: A Love of Alliteration

Nov11
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Author Confessions: A Love of Alliteration

Alliteration is when you have a phrase with a similar letter or sound starting words that are in close proximity to each other. I’ve had people accuse me of loving alliteration. Why? Well, simply because of some of the titles of my books. Before I start listing those that have this lovely literary feature, let me first say that it wasn’t intentional when I started, I just liked the way the first book titles sounded in two series and then decided to keep writing in that same vein. Having titles that are somewhat similar in length or content can be helpful for the reader in recognizing it as your book, especially when there is a series. Alliteration can capture attention and as an author I want people to be drawn to my books, but that is not the only way to get their attention. Designing a captivating title is an art in and of itself.

My first was my Regency series. I started with The Virtuous Viscount, then wrote a prequel called The Baron’s Blunder. Subsequent books as I went on realizing I had enough ideas for an entire series are: Lord Phillip’s Folly, Lord Harrow’s Heart, and The Captain’s Conquest. That series came to an end, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t abandoned the idea as I have some Regency novellas with this feature: The Doctor’s Daughter, and Gabriel’s Gift. Some of my other Regency Christmas novellas do not have that feature. I try to use whatever works best for the story I’m writing.

I started writing contemporary after I tried my hand at historical and then every year for many years I was writing one of each. That first book was Pesto and Potholes, only because I wanted something that would work potholes into the title and be intriquing. Then someone suggested I write another book called Salsa and Speed Bumps and well, I liked the idea of that so I did. After that the challenge was on to pair a food-related item with a road-related item. How do you think I did? Titles include: Feta and Freeways, Root Beer and Roadblocks, Bratwurst and Bridges, Donuts and Detours and finally, Truffles and Traffic (as a fellow writer really wanted me to write a book with truffles in the title!). I actually have a sheet of  ideas of possible future titles for this series, so who knows? That one could continue indefinitely if I wished, and could come up with titles. The challenge is that the food must be part of the story, which is the easy part, and the road-related reference has to be a metaphor used in the story, whether obviously as in Pesto and Potholes or subtly in others. The title must make sense to me and to the reader.

Most of my contemporary Christmas novellas do not have this feature.  Sugar Cookies and Street Lamps was originally supposed to be Sugar Cookies and Street Crossings but that was nixed by my Editor-in-chief. Oh well, she felt it sounded better as street lamps and she featured one on the cover. Who am I to argue? It’s more about the story than the title and as I’ve written about in the past, not everyone gets the title they want. Just doesn’t always happen that way. The metaphor worked either way but I lost the full alliteration I was trying for.

I’m not the only author to use this for purposes of titles. Consider:

Also in visual entertainment:

  • Mamma Mia
  • Dr. Dolittle
  • Mork and Mindy
  • Midsomer Murders
  • Gardians of the Galaxy

Character names as well:

  • Lois Lane
  • Peter Parker
  • Bruce Banner
  • Bilbo Baggins
  • Big Bird

So here’s the question, do you like alliteration in titles? Why or why not? I’d be curious to know!

Author Confessions: Humor is Hard to Write

Apr1
Reading Time: 4 minutes

Author Confessions: Humor is hard to write.

As a reader, I’ve enjoyed reading books that have humor. Humor can lighten a dark spot in a story or can make the characters more likeable. Watching a comedian though is far more interesting than reading their act, or listening to them. There is a physicality to humor that can be expressed in the twitch of an eyebrow or a smirk, or even the struggle the comedian has to keep from laughing themselves.

The unexpected can lead to humor. So can quirky characters. Personally, I’m not that funny but unintentionally, yes. But how does that translate to the page? Most of the time it doesn’t.

I attended a few workshops at ComedySportz in Milwaukee, Wisconsin many moons ago. I worked for a while as a hostess and the ticket booth and at that time we were encouraged to be weird and wacky if we desired. Of course, some customers bring it out better than others but they are coming there for improvisational comedy so there was a freedom to not so much tell jokes, but to try to get a smile on someone’s face. Again, this is all in person’s facial expressions, or the clothing I wore as well as tone of voice and words all mingled to get a laugh.

I was never good enough to be a mainstage player. We did workshop shows and I performed well. It was fun to be playing games that facilitated silliness and to do it with other people also trying to be funny. Not every bit was hysterical but we sure had a good time. In the classes we learned games and how to let go of the strict proper control we’ve learned to relax and let the funny come naturally—and work as a team. The biggest lesson when playing the games? Mistakes are funny. That’s why the best players, when they fail, fail big and it entertains everyone.

When I stumble upon a book with humor, I enjoy more, maybe because they are harder to find and difficult to write. When I wrote my first novel, Pesto & Potholes, I did put a silly character in there. She was very dear to me and the reality is there are people in the world like her and it showed the depth of character of my female protagonist in the way she treated this sweet woman named Edith. She was spunky and mentally ill and I towed a fine line between finding the funny and not making fun of those who struggle with such illness. I think I did it well and she as a character brought comedic relief to some emotionally heavier parts of the story. Most people loved Edith. One person commented that they didn’t understand her. Not every humorous moment will strike everyone the same way. I’m OK with that.

I’ve had an editor that has encouraged me to have more of those lighthearted, sillier moments in some of my stories and I’ve worked at that but none of my books would be described as romantic comedies. I’ve found few authors writing those as well although as an editor it is what I would love to edit the most because of the joy of the story.

I want to grow in my ability to write humor but to be honest, my own mind can be a dark place. Oh, I’ve been silly quite often and my husband especially encourages goofiness and draws it out of me because he delights in being goofy and trying to bring a smile to someone’s day. And every day he does that for me. I’m not as uninhibited.

I wrote a Christmas novella this year that deals with heavy topics but has a dash of silliness and wit to it. More than previous books. When I read it again before submitting it I found myself smiling most of the way though for the pure joy of those lighthearted moments in the story. Maybe I’ll be able to grow in that area as an author. I have another story I want to work on and I think when I start it there may be far more humor, though subtle, than some of my previous works. We’ll see.

Wit is not easy to write, but does involve a certain pacing to dialogue to make it work right. We’ll see if readers enjoy those moments as well in my upcoming Christmas novella.

Writing humor is challenging and probably why so many people don’t do it. There’s a desire to not minimize the emotional pains by adding a touch of humor to a story, but they can both exist with a deft pen (or typewriter). Here’s hoping I can grow in this area as a writer as. If I succeed, I hope my readers will appreciate the effort because humor is hard to write.

Do you enjoy humor in fiction or am I the only one?

Lessons Learned While Writing: Two Kinds of Writers

May9
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Before I started writing my first novel I had heard about people outlining their books but had no concept of what that could possibly be about. I just started writing…and kept writing…and 21 days later had a book that was way too long!

When I write a non-fiction piece of work, whether a talk I’m going to give or a book, I do outline. But I find an outline restrictive to the creative process for me as a writer when I’m writing fiction. People who outline struggle to believe there’s another acceptable way to write.

So I learned there are two kinds of writers. Actually—there are two extremes. Pantsters who have no idea what there are doing and wing it and planners or plotters who outline their books, do in-depth character interviews, understand the motivations, story arc, and plot points.

The funny things is, I do some of that now, but not as much as a pure plotter would do. I’m co-authoring a series with a plotter. The first book we did together was torture for me trying to make sense of this story arc and the characters and there were timing issues that I needed to fix. That was primarily because it was handed to me to start the rough draft. I did manage it and the story is wonderful, but it was challenging on so many levels.

My plotter friend, DeeDee, and I now do much of that work together. She comes up with the main stuff and we wrestle through plot points and we talk it out quite often. I give her stuff to write as well so I’m not the only one putting original words on the page. For me getting to know the characters well has been huge for this. Plot points are suggestions and sometimes I come up with fun surprises. I figure if she reads it kind of knowing what is going to happen and I can surprise her, then I can surprise the reader too! It’s a balance that so far seems to be working for us.

Either end of the spectrum is fine. Pantsters want some love too and maybe some of that is personality or part of the unique creative soul some of us have, but it’s OK and no way of writing is right or wrong as long as the writer, in the end, produces a great piece of fiction.

If you are a writer, where do you fall on the pantster-plotter spectrum?

Lessons Learned while Writing: Omniscience vs Free Will

Mar21
Reading Time: 3 minutes

This might seem like an odd thing to learn about while writing fiction but hang in there with me. My master’s degree is from a seminary. I have taught theology and studied the attributes of God. His omniscience vs out free will is an issue people have been arguing about for centuries.

I don’t really have the answer to that debate although I fully believe in both. God knows everything which should terrify us. EVERYTHING. Every thought and intention of our hearts, our motives, the words we don’t say out loud but think. Our wants and desires. Our deepest fears. Amazingly enough, He wanted His human creation, dependant upon Him for every breath we take and every beat of our hearts, to have the freedom to accept or reject Him.

He didn’t want puppets to worship Him. He wanted people willing to give their all to Him because He called and we chose to respond.

Now we could debate about how could God, who knows everything we will do, give us free will since He already knows we will do it?

I can’t answer that. Some thoughts are far too lofty for this mere mortal.

But I came to a place of peace with this because of my writing. It is not a perfect illustration because again, as a writer, I’m a mortal, not eternal like God is.

When I write my story I have an idea of what the journey for my characters will be like and who they are. (Remember, these people don’t really exist even if they seem to in my mind).  I have a general concept of my ending. Since I write happily-ever-afters it will be a happy ending. There will be love. Maybe a kiss or a wedding, and regardless of where my characters start on their journey, they will have grown emotionally and spiritually. Because I’m human and haven’t written the book yet, I’m not sure of all the details of those journeys to love and greater wholeness.

Whether a writer is a panster (write by the seat of his/her pants) or a plotter, planning out general points of the story’s plot, our characters sometimes surprise us. I can have in-depth interviews with these imaginary people but they sometimes throw me for a loop with a memory, or an issue I wasn’t expecting. Sometimes they make a choice I didn’t anticipate. However, I get them to my desired end for the book.

Once the book is written I am fully aware of their choices and decisions and the precise ending.

God knows my beginning and my end. He has a plan and a purpose for my life but I still make choices. Unlike me as an author, God is never surprised because He’s already read the end of my story. He read it before I was even born. That doesn’t mean He dictated my path.

I’m not even sure if that fully makes sense to you, but it does to me. I can’t understand just how it really works with an all-knowing, sovereign Lord, only that I can listen for His voice and maybe I’ll make mistakes, but He will get me to my desired end and use me to fulfill His purpose here on earth. Maybe I’ll sport some bruises from my failures, but He will never stop loving me on the journey through my story.

And He is also the One who leads me as I write. How else can my characters surprise me if my God-given imagination didn’t let that happen? An imagination designed for me combined with my history and past experiences to create a story out of nothing because I am an image-bearer of the Creator Himself.

Maybe this is too lofty, but I’ve found peace in not understanding how it all happens. It is a holy mystery beyond my ability to grasp but His omniscience doesn’t negate free will and there is wonderful security in that truth.