Be the Story

#CharacterStory Writing Prompts 2012/05/14

J. Timothy King — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:00:34 +0000

New York #flickrmeetup
Photo © 2012 Markus Spiering
Click here for original image.

Use one or more of the prompts below to inspire one or more character stories:

Write a story with the scene depicted by the photo at top of this post, “New York #flickrmeetup – Come and meet us at the High Line!” (Click for a larger view.)
Write a story with a character who periodically lapses into talking like a mobster (or in baby-talk, or in the voice of Sylvester the Cat, etc.)
Write a story about loving your enemies.
Write a story that involves mass transit.

Please comment below with a link to your story!

Keep writing!
-TimK

Writing Character Flaws

J. Timothy King — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:00:10 +0000

“Love Thyself,” © 2010 Kaili Williams CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Click here for the original photo.

Inspired by the Pendragon Variety Podcast relaunch episode—in which the Pendragon ladies vamp on the topic: “Character Flaws – Balancing Your Character’s Awesome”—I decided to expound on… uh… character flaws.

First things first: We’re all told that our characters should have “flaws.” But what are these mythical creatures? What makes a flaw?

any imperfection in a character?
something that gets the character into trouble?
something that makes us unsympathetic to the character’s plight?
something that keeps the character from meeting his needs?
a dysfunctional character behavior or habit?
a self-defeating character trait?
a physical characteristic?
an emotional characteristic?

While many authors and commentators ask this question, I’m not sure many have given a good answer.

And asking Google does not help. For example, here’s Wikipedia’s definition:

…a limitation, imperfection, problem, phobia, or deficiency present in a character who may be otherwise very functional… a problem that directly affects the character’s actions and abilities, such as a violent temper; [or] a simple foible or personality defect, which affects the character’s motives and social interactions, but little else.

There’s a lot in there. But one thing I think we can agree on:

Character flaws matter when they are part of the character’s character.

That is, useful character flaws are character traits. Or: Character flaws matter when they affect how the character meets his needs.

Unfocused character quirks, that is, character flaws that do not impact the story, don’t make the reader feel good or bad about the character. They are at best neutral, only adding spice to an already full character.

On the other hand, flaws that serve as obvious plot gimmicks, changing the course of the story without actually being integrated into the character’s character—like the clumsy heroine who is clumsy only so that she can stumble into the hero’s strong arms… Gack! These can grate on the nerves and even reduce sympathy for the character.

So we can limit discussion of “flaws,” looking only at those flaws that are also deep character traits. But not all character traits are flaws. A “flaw” has a negative connotation. It gets in the character’s way. It doesn’t necessarily need to be something with a social stigma, like alcoholism or drug addiction. It can be something as simple as the character turning to food whenever she feels her life is careening out of control.

Therefore, to find a character’s flaws…

Start with character needs.
Try to meet them in a self-destructive or self-defeating way.

In real life, you’ll find these flaws everywhere. In studies of addictions. Of depression and suicide. Of eating disorders. Of battered women. Of crime. Of divorce. Of political action and terrorism.

Once we realize that a character flaw is just a specific case of character trait, we can identify two more truths:

A flaw can change,
once you make a character-centric case for why it should.

BUT this assumes you’ve already provided compelling reason for the flaw’s existence in the first place. (Note that this is just a restatement of the Second Law of Character Action.)

And…

Add complexity by calling on multiple related, interacting needs.

So the character tries to maintain control over his life by arguing with his wife, but this also distances him from his family, which makes him feel lonely, so he flirts with the pretty receptionist at the office, which produces another fight, etc.

In the Pendragon Variety discussion, the ladies at points said, “The character’s flaw is…” And then, “Actually, I think the character’s flaw is…” Followed by: “No! The character’s flaw really is… Meooowww!”

I made up that last line. They weren’t really fighting about it. However, in a different time and place, with a different group of commentators, they could have been. In all such disagreements, I take the middle position:

Deep characters have multiple flaws.

In other words, a realistic character is never composed of a single, fatal flaw. Realistic characters are made up of many character traits, all interacting in complex ways. Which one comes into play in a given scene or story depends on which others are also in play.

One more note from the discussion: They talked about “flaw” and compared it to “evidence of flaw,” another discussion that seemed to have no firm set of rules, for a very simple reason:

You need both “flaw” and “evidence of flaw.”
Which is which depends on where you’re standing.

“Flaw” vs “evidence of flaw” is the difference between show and tell. And which is which will depend on what zoom level you’re looking at. Just as we can have the narrator zoom in and out and look at a scene from different perspectives, we can look at a character from different perspectives.

For instance: With even the slightest unexpected event, the character feels her life careening out of control (flaw); therefore, she disagrees with the next person she talks to, in order to reassert control (evidence of flaw).

Zooming in a little: Whatever her coworkers think, she always seems to take the opposite view, and can never let up, even for the sake of peace (flaw); instead, she engages them in heated fights (evidence of flaw).

These fights distance her from her coworkers. She’s known as someone who can’t go along to get along, who doesn’t play nice with others (flaw). She overhears someone saying that management is looking for a reason to fire her, and so she finds a good-for-nothing lawyer who will seek out a legal rationale to sue her employer (evidence of flaw).

You need both in a story, both the zoom-out and the zoom-in, both the establishing shot and the close shot. So it may be useful to recognize that, from such-and-such a perspective, this is a character flaw and that is evidence of the flaw. But I’m not convinced it’s all that useful to make general statements about a story: “That’s evidence of the character’s flaw, which is…”

I hope this brief foray into character flaws has led to some insights for your own writing. If you start with character first, as you flesh out your characters, flaws will provide a natural way for you to increase the drama of your stories without making your characters feel fake. If you look at them from that perspective, as dramatic character traits, they’ll never lead you astray. And always…

Keep writing!
-TimK

Carnival of Storytelling – November 3, 2011

J. Timothy King — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:00:21 +0000

Welcome to the November 3, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling.

Yes, it was actually posted a little later than November 3. And that’s my fault. It’s also a little skimpy, and that’s also my fault.

Even so, thanks to everyone who submitted a link at BlogCarnival.com. Please browse their blog posts, and share your own favorite posts from across the Internet for the next edition.

Enjoy!

Fiction and True Stories

American Boy presents Letter to my Ex: Karma posted at AdvancedScoop.com, saying, “Just wanted to get a little something off my chest. Enjoy!”

novaw0lf presents Fighting for Redemption posted at WriterWolven.com. [ed: Warning: adult content.]

Publishing and Marketing

Lindsay B presents Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 101 for Authors posted at Savvy Self-Publishing, saying, “No, it’s not the most exciting topic, but it can get more people to your site, people who might just go on to check out your books!”

AND That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Storytelling using our carnival submission form.

If you have trouble with the Carnival of Storytelling submission form, please contact me at www.JTimothyKing.com, select the “Carnival of Storytelling” category, and include a message with the link to the post and any remarks you’d like to include with the submission.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Carnival of Storytelling – October 20, 2011

J. Timothy King — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:00:26 +0000

Welcome to the October 20, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a link at BlogCarnival.com. And thanks to all the bloggers who posted wonderful articles that I have hand-picked for the following list. Please browse their blog posts, and share your own favorite posts from across the Internet for the next edition.

Enjoy!

Writers

Terry C. Simpson posted Author Interview: Elaine Raco Chase at Ramblings of a Fantasy Author — “First, let me welcome you to the world of contemporary romance novels…”

Art and Craft

Belinda Kroll presents Determining a Character’s Big Goal posted at Worderella Writes, saying, “A short post about how an author can determine the difference between a mundane goal and the Big Goal that motivates them throughout the story.”

Harry Bingham presents Fixing your plot problems: How to get out of the one-third slump posted at Write Edit Seek Literary Agent — A guest post by Gary Gibson, the author of six science fiction novels for Pan Macmillan, the latest of which, Final Days, was published in August. “It occurred to me during this that all those seats-of-the-pants writers were being a touch disingenuous about their writing process. Either they did plan out their stories, but kept it all in their head, or their offices were filled with a vast number of unfinished stories and manuscripts. Both, I think, are true.”

Eliza Moonchild presents How To Make Your Fan Fiction a Poplular One posted at Rainy Day Teachings, saying, “How to write a popular and high quality fan fiction.”

Writing Life

Holly Lisle (re)posted Beating the Publishing Odds at her blog — One of my favorite contemporary midlist authors, now gone indie, reposts this inspiring piece that’s not actually about publishing, “because I keep hearing despair, and this is a time for challenge, and endeavor, and effort, and triumph.”

Talina Perkins posted Novice & Seasoned Writer, Who Do You Listen To? at Bookin’ It Reviews — … But let me back up a minute and tell a small tale of how much listening to the wrong advice hurt me in my journey towards building my writing career…

Shelli Johnson posted Writing Advice ~ Overcoming Fear at her blog — One reason people don’t follow their dreams: simple fear. Fear of opposition, yes. Fear of failure, sure. But also fear of success, fear of making the wrong decision, fear of other people’s opinions.

Kenn Crawford posted Why Do Writers Have to Justify Themselves? at his blog — “… or they continue their juvenile interrogation by asking if I just do it for fun or do I actually make a living at writing.” And I (Tim King) have an even better question: Why do writers have to write a certain number of books or gain a certain degree of fame or make a certain amount of money, before they can be deemed a “real” writer? If your writing touches just one soul, then you are a real writer, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. (But that’s a different blog post.)

Fiction and True Stories

American Boy presents Memories: A Beautiful Lie posted at AdvancedScoop.com — “Living in New York, seeing the bright lights, tall building and most importantly all the BEAUTIFUL WOMEN puts a smile on my face daily. At night I sit outside on my steps and look around at where I’m at and it’s unbelievable.”

American Boy presents Letter to the Young Men: First Love posted at AdvancedScoop.com — I want to talk to every young man out there who’s experiencing their “First Love”. Right now you’re probably having feelings that you’ve never felt before. You’re probably smiling a lot more, falling asleep on the phone, texting smiley faces during class and doing all types of things you said you’d never do. It’s cool, being in a relationship can be a beautiful thing. But unfortunately I didn’t write this to pen point all the great aspects of being in love…

Publishing and Marketing

Harry Bingham presents The Elevator Pitch posted at Write Edit Seek Literary Agent — Writing is a scary old business but of all the scary things about it, perhaps the scariest is getting the concept right.

Harry Bingham presents How to Meet Literary Agents posted at Write Edit Seek Literary Agent — Loads of new writers will be frustrated by the impersonal quality of the typical agent submission procedure. You send off your stuff – spend up to eight weeks waiting to hear something – then get back a preprinted, slightly cold rejection letter. It feels so dispiriting, so unconstructive.

Jon Bard presents Does the Ad Budget Make a Bestseller? posted at Children’s Writing Web Journal — Amidst news of declining book sales, the takeover of electronic publishing, and big publishers shuttering imprints…

Resources

Liz Shaw presents A new tool for writers posted at The Writing Reader, saying, “The collaborative writing site, Libboo, I’m using it to allow alpha readers to give me feedback on my writing.”

AND That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Storytelling using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Carnival of Storytelling – September 22, October 18, 2011

J. Timothy King — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:24:11 +0000

Carnival of Storytelling – ~~September 22,~~ October 18, 2011

Welcome to the Carnival of Storytelling.

Now that the summer break is over, to launch a new season, I’m catching up on editions of the Carnival of Storytelling. A lot of great links posted. And more coming up ~~tomorrow and~~ Thursday!

(UPDATE Oct 19: I didn’t understand how blogcarnival.com worked. After I posted this edition, it recomputed all the outstanding submissions into Thursday’s. So the next edition is on Thursday, and then we’re all caught up.)

Thanks to everyone who submitted a link at BlogCarnival.com. And thanks to all the bloggers who posted wonderful articles, which I have hand-picked for the following list. Please browse their blog posts, and share your own favorite posts from across the Internet for the next edition.

Enjoy!

Writers

J. McManus presents Inside The Book of One Million Men and Me, with Kelly Starling Lyons posted at Inside The Books— One Million Men and Me, a great book for children 5-10, is Kelly’s first picture book but her second children’s book.

Ken Lange presents Writing Habits of Ian Fleming posted at Kenneth Lange— Most people know James Bond, but fewer people know Ian Fleming who wrote the Bond novels, and even fewer know the leisurely, yet effective, habits he followed when writing the novels about the secret agent.

J. McManus presents Inside The Book of The Septavalent Stone, with J.O. Jones posted at Inside The Books— J.O. Jones was born in Nigeria and like others around him he never knew he could be published and that people could read his stories. He just knew he wanted to write, especially after reading Prince Caspian by C S Lewis.

From MyMcBooks… An interview with Jacquitta A. McManus posted at Inside The Books.

Books etc.

kristinlately presents My Journey: Feeling, Healing, and Kneeling My Way to a Better Life: Black and White Insight posted at My Journey: Feeling, Healing, and Kneeling My Way to a Better Life, saying, “Reviews on books that have altered my journey…”

Julie Worthington presents Top 10 Children’s Must Read Classics – No Childhood is Complete Without These Favorites posted at Julie Worthington, saying, “Recommendations on good books to read.”

siobhan curious presents Word Jars and Grocery Lists: “Your Child’s Writing Life” by Pam Allyn posted at Siobhan Curious.

Art and Craft

Sally Apokedak presents Harry Potter, the Orphan posted at Whispers of Dawn ~, saying, “Harry seems like he’d be my kind of orphan— A kid who was abused. A smart, talented kid who was unappreciated. How could anyone read about the awful, narrow-minded, selfish, mean Dursleys and not feel for little Harry who lived in the closet under the stairs and who got a coat hanger and a pair of his uncle’s old socks for his eleventh birthday? And yet, I never think of Harry when I think of favorite characters in books. Why not?” [A discovery in character sympathy. -ed]

Zhu presents All About Blogging: Ten Tips To Be a Better Writer posted at Correr Es Mi Destino, saying, “How hard can writing be? You just have to type what you’re thinking, right? Well, it doesn’t quite work like that, even if your spontaneous thoughts and observations can be a good starting point. When you’re writing for an audience, a few basic tips apply.”

Writing Life

kristinlately presents Surrendering: Piece for Peace posted at My Journey: Feeling, Healing, and Kneeling My Way to a Better Life, saying, “This article is about how blogging has helped me along my journey.”

Joel Friedlander presents 7 Distraction-Free Writing Environments for Authors — The Book Designer posted at Joel Friedlander.

Nicole Pyles presents Overcoming Fear (and some thoughts from the middle of the night) posted at The World of My Imagination.

Fiction and True Stories

Damilola Amele presents My Encounter With a Nudist posted at DAMI AMELE.

Forrest presents Books always start on the first page. posted at Twisted Yet Magical!, saying, “A brand new Blog that serves as the personal journal for the elvish mage Raze. following him through out his journeys and studies.”

Kayla Allen presents My Dream about Blogging! posted at Young Mothers Diary.

Ken Lange presents Being Skilled is Not Enough posted at Kenneth Lange.

Leah Bulacan presents the alcoholic posted at deranged damsel.

T.L. Mertens presents A Bony Birth posted at Monsters & Mustaches, saying, “The first chapter in a series about a boy born with no skin who slowly discovers that his father was a superhero.”

Leif GS Notae presents Flash Fiction: Omega Recall posted at Leif G.S. Notae— The Omega Series: Conclusion.

RKJ presents Jodie Fostered posted at Attack Bunnies.

Publishing and Marketing

Dragana presents Fantasy or Science Fiction? posted at Mystic Treehouse, saying, “Not writing tips per se, more a reflection on the distinction between the genres of Fantasy and Science Fiction that some beginner writers have trouble with.”

Lindsay presents Authors, Why You Should Start a Newsletter posted at The Irreverent Introvert, saying, “Once you have your first book out, it’s time to get serious about marketing. Here are a few reasons why you should start a newsletter.”

Anna Farmery presents Show – 350 How to Promote your Book posted at The Engaging Brand.

Lindsay B presents How to Get Book Reviews posted at Savvy Self-Publishing, saying, “Tips for getting those first few book reviews at Amazon, from an indie author who’s ‘been there, done that.’”

Jennifer Saksa presents Bringing A Comic To Life With Photo Slideshow Software posted at NCH Software Blog— Bringing life and dimension to a story as a YouTube video clip.

RebeccaExpertmom presents How to Get a Book Published posted at Book Nerd – High Quality Book Reviews— You love to read books but your biggest dream is that others will read yours. If you have a manuscript for a book you can get it published in several ways.

AND That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Storytelling using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Carnival of Storytelling – August 11, 2011

J. Timothy King — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:00:45 +0000

Welcome to the August 11, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling.

Enjoy!

Fiction and True Stories

Jen Knox (author of Musical Chairs) has published Types of Circus in fwriction : review – A short, literary, character story of a person who made an unexpected difference. Never underestimate the impact you have on others.

T.L. Mertens presents 1. A Bony Birth posted at Monsters & Mustaches, saying, “The first chapter in a series about a boy born with no skin who slowly discovers that his father was a superhero.”

Leif GS Notae presents Omega Recall posted at Leif G.S. Notae, saying, “Flash fiction piece finishing the Omega Series.”

Publishing and Marketing

RebeccaExpertmom presents How to get a Book Published posted at Book Nerd – High Quality Book Reviews, saying, “This is an article about how to get a book published.” (ed: a brief precis for the absolute beginner)

AND That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Storytelling using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Carnival of Storytelling – July 28, 2011

J. Timothy King — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:00:05 +0000

Welcome to the July 28, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling.

Enjoy!

Writers

Jo Bryant presents Francesco Petrarca and the Petrarchan Sonnet posted at Chronicles of Illusions.

Art and Craft

Bryan Keithley presents When to Ignore What School Taught Us posted at Ascentive, saying, “I find that when my writing is not jumping off the proverbial page, it’s fun to think back to all those draconian rules about good writing—and then blow them up and create my own. Do you know when to forget what English class has taught you?”

Writing Life

Charlotte Abel presents The Journey From Writer to Author posted at Charlotte Abel’s blog: ‘This is a major milestone for me and I’m excited to share the news. I’ve been a writer for several decades and a “real” writer for a little over three years, but now I’m officially an author. BIG difference.’

Publishing and Marketing

Evelyn Lafont posted Indie Authors: Love What You Do and How You Do It at Duolit – A disturbing trend among some self-published, indie authors: many of them seem to be unhappy about their decision to self-publish. Self-publishing is not going to fit everyone.

Juliet Jones presents The 8 Reasons Borders Went Bye-Bye posted at Business Insurance, saying, “All good stories must to come to an end, and Borders bookstore is no exception to this rule.”

Resources

Katie Gilbert presents 15 Insightful Blogs for Book Club Leaders posted at Best Online Colleges.com, saying, “Leading a book club can be hard work but very rewarding at the same time.”

AND That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Storytelling using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Self-Publishing for Fun and Profit

J. Timothy King — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:13:14 +0000

Photo © 2008 Quinn Dombrowski CC BY-SA 2.0
Click here for the original image.

In yesterday’s post, I distinguished between the “indie author” and the “self-published author.” A reader named Wendy commented, with a question.

This is a distinction that I originally got from Bob Baker, author of 55 Ways to Promote & Sell Your Book on the Internet. Bob got his self-publishing start with a book about indie music marketing, back in the mid-90′s. He told the story in a recent interview about self-publishing:

In 1996, I self-published the first crude version of the Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook… one of the first books to advocate self-reliance and taking your music career into your own hands (as opposed to “getting signed” to a record label, which most music business books were all about back then).

My DIY perspective came in handy when the traditional music biz began to crumble around 2001. Before long, going the “indie” route became the way to go…

Eh. So the book industry is 10 years late.

Anyhow, (a few years ago, as I recall) Bob pointed out that most people don’t care who published your book. But if someone does ask you who, you can say, “I’m an indie author,” rather than saying, “I self-published it.” He got the “indie” tag from the music industry, where “indie” is no longer looked down upon as less legitimate than being signed by a big record label.

I took his advice to heart. When I talk about “self-published authors,” I’m usually referring to authors who use modern publishing technology in pursuit of their hobby. When I talk about “indie authors,” I’m referring to those who take their writing seriously, take their books seriously, and treat them as part of a business plan.

(I’m not sure if that’s what Bob originally had in mind. But that’s the gist of what I wrote yesterday.)

In reply, Wendy wrote (and I paraphrase):

Hi, Tim.

I’ve never contacted you before but I have read your blogs and comments on Holly Lisle’s blogs… My question is how does one start/run her own publishing company? Any information or resources you could point me to would be greatly appreciated?

Wendy C. Boston

Hi, Wendy. Thanks so much for commenting. This answer is going to gloss over a lot of material, but I hope that I at least provide a useful link or two.

The easiest way to get started is to publish ebooks under your own name using Smashwords and/or Amazon KDP. Smashwords’s site is designed to be author-friendly; that is, you don’t have to be a publishing expert to use it. (However, once you are a publishing expert, you’ll probably learn to hate it. Ba-dum bum.) Amazon has also designed their site to be used by authors, but you’ll need to convert your ebook appropriately for their system. Both sites have good help guides, and Amazon has user forums as well.

You can also set up a small business, file a fictitious name, and use that as the publisher name. Whether and how to do that is the same for a publishing business as for any other business. Nolo Press has some great self-help legal books on how to start a business legally. Starting a modern small publishing business is easier than starting many other businesses, because you don’t need a storefront, and you don’t need any government licenses or permits (at least not here in the U.S.). You don’t even need to deal with publishing contracts, if you’re only publishing your own books (and if you are publishing your own books, you should probably think twice before you also publish someone else’s… but that’s another topic).

Even if you use your own name, the key, I think, is to treat your authoring and publishing as a business or career, not as a hobby. That is, engage it seriously, put into it the time and effort it demands, and plan well in order to ultimately succeed. Of course, hobbies are wonderful. I have hobbies, too. And I think everybody should write stories as a hobby—at least everyone who isn’t pursuing it as a career. But you were asking about self-publishing as a business. The real difference is in attitude, whether it’s a hobby or a career, because that difference will help you make certain decisions and affect your level of commitment, especially over the long haul.

I can also recommend Aaron Shepard’s book POD for Profit: More on the NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Your Books With Print on Demand by Lightning Source. Lightning Source is the printer/distributor that many boutique and indie presses use (even Lulu and CreateSpace use them, at least sometimes). Lightning Source is not “self-publishing company,” like Lulu. Rather, they offer book printing services (both POD and offset) and distribution services (through Ingram), and they work with publishers, not authors. In fact, when I filled out their client application form, it seemed to me more to assure them that I was a publishing company, and not just an author.

Aaron Shepard in POD for Profit also goes into some of the business aspects of running a small publishing company. You might be interesting in the first book in that series, Aiming at Amazon, too. (I personally think those two books are out of order. Lightning Source first, because that gives you something to sell to all your readers who have been interacting with you via your blog and email and Twitter and Facebook. Then Amazon, because you want your book to look as good as possible on their site. But most people seem to think in the opposite direction: Amazon first.) In any case, you should check out Aaron’s self-publishing site.

(I should also add that I have not myself read POD for Profit, but it clearly has some of the information he was originally planning to put into the second edition of Aiming for Amazon, which I did review. In any case, I can personally vouch for Aaron’s status as a bona-fide self-publishing expert, because I’ve been following his work for some time. And so I trust that he knows what he’s talking about, even if I haven’t personally read the book.)

Hope this helps. Best of luck in whatever you endeavor.

Keep writing!
-TimK

What the End of Borders Means for Authors

J. Timothy King — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:00:47 +0000

First of all, a clarification: when right-wingers talk about “closing the borders,” this isn’t what they mean.

The big news over the past week is that Borders Books is officially going out of business.

Book lovers have expressed grief and dismay. One Borders fan called it “a case of internet outsourcing.” He’s not too far off the mark. And this has been coming for a long time. (The photo above was taken a year and a half ago in Oxford.)

But Barnes & Noble continues to succeed, because there’s a difference between Borders and Barnes & Noble, a difference in how the two companies approached the book industry. Barnes & Noble has embraced the ebook—a little later than Amazon, but at least they did. Barnes & Noble has embraced online ordering. You can even special-order copies of my books at Barnes & Noble stores. And Barnes & Noble got the Starbucks deal, too. Barnes & Noble probably sells more coffee than books.

A friend recently asked me whether books would completely disappear. I had to correct her: ebooks are books, too. Now, I don’t think paper books will ever completely disappear. (That’s a different post.) However, ebooks present a number of advantages to authors, not only in what ebooks do for authors, but also in the market changes they portend.

Everyone keeps talking about the demise of the book industry, because people no longer buy books at bookstores. But if you include ebooks and online sales, the book industry is most certainly not dying. And if you include all reading of all online content, the writing industry is more active than ever. And the book industry is changing in ways that portend more and more good things for authors.

The Transformation Has Completed

It used to be that if you wanted to build a fan-base and share what you’ve written with the world, you would find a publisher. If your writing showed promise, the publisher would help you whip it into shape. And as you wrote more books, your new fans would go back and buy books from your growing backlist. Your publisher would make money by helping you further your writing career.

Then there was the Thor Power Tool court case against the IRS. And it was no longer cost-effective to keep inventories of non-selling items (such as an author’s backlist), against the hope that some of them would indeed sell. And so publishers stopped stocking mid-list authors’ backlists. Only backlists of famous authors continue to remain available for purchase.

And then big-box book stores, like Borders and Barnes & Noble, started ordering to the net. And that gave you exactly one chance to become a best-seller, because only best-sellers got reordered. And that killed the career of the mid-list writer… at least of the traditional mid-list writer.

And then print-on-demand made it possible to “stock” titles without actually keeping a physical inventory. Indie publishers and indie authors flocked to this technology, and even some larger publishers started making some authors’ backlists available via print-on-demand. But not enough to save the career of the mid-list writer. Most publishers resisted change, because they were wed to the big-box mass-market model. They couldn’t see any value in the long tail, in serving the mid-list author with a large backlist.

And now with the rise of ebooks, the transformation has completed. Big publishers still resist it, because they resist change, and so they’re terrified of ebooks. But they do so to their own demise. In this new market, ebooks represent cheap, low-risk, impulse purchases. And they sell. Now, any author can publish her growing backlist on the Kindle and on Smashwords, with almost no publishing investment. And she can build her fan-base, risk-free. And she can make a larger royalty doing that than she ever had before with a traditional publisher. And the career of the mid-list author has begun to rise from the ashes.

The Only Reason to Get Published

An extended family member asked me a year or two ago about getting published. I explained that I ran my own publishing company, but that wasn’t for everybody. And I really didn’t have any good advice for her, any strategy that I felt I could recommend without possibly leading her astray. I couldn’t in good conscience tell her to publish her manuscript on the Internet, because if it didn’t work out, I couldn’t tell her it would still have been the right thing to have done. But should she try to get a publisher? Getting published is still a dream, alive and well, with many aspiring authors. But the traditionally published route is hard and painful and isn’t really a good way for most people to build a writing career. Getting published is more like being the rube of honor in a reality TV show. (But that’s a different post.) I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, most of all a family member.

So I had nothing to tell her. But since then, epiphany struck. I learned that some mid-list authors make less money off their books than even I do, because they sold their souls to their publishers, who are keeping their backlists off the market (out of print and unavailable as ebooks). And now I do have something to tell my family member.

There’s only one real reason to “get published.” — Correction: there are several emotional reasons why someone might want to get published, such as a desire for status, the feeling of being an insider, social recognition. But there’s only one business reason to get published—and if you’re talking about building a writing career, this is all that counts. The only business reason why you’d want to get published is if you’re going after the mass market.

And by “mass market,” forget Barnes & Noble. I’m talking Walmart. If you have a plan to see your book on grocery store shelves, and you honestly feel you can pull it off, then pursue traditional publishing, because that’s the only chance you have to realize that dream. You want to sell a gazillion copies. You want everyone to read your book, and you’re willing to write down to the lowest common denominator in order to see that happen. If true, as science-fiction author Theodore Sturgeon wrote, that 90% of everything is crap, then you dream to be counted amongst that 90%.

For most of us, that’s not what we want. As for myself, I’d be embarrassed to see one of my books ranked among the tripe I see stocked at the local drugstore. Because I have so little respect for that market.

Most of us, we have a passion for what we write, and this passion sustains us in our writing. We don’t just write to the lowest common denominator. We write to specific readers. We write for those who will share our passions with us. We write to make a difference. We are mid-list authors, but only if we keep writing and keep sharing what we write. It used to be that the only way to share was to find a publisher who would support your career. But that’s no longer true.

The End of Borders

Borders tried to hold on to a bygone era, and that’s why they failed. They didn’t embrace ebooks, and they didn’t even embrace print-on-demand. (You couldn’t even special-order a copy of one of my books through Borders; call me vindictive, but I’m not all that unhappy to see them go.) I don’t think they were trying to snub ebooks, but they overlooked the future in the changing book market.

Most aspiring authors will do just as Borders has done. They’ll continue to seek publication through a “respectable” publishing house, not realizing that this route—if they’re lucky—will mean the rapid demise of their writing careers. Because whether you get published or self-publish, you—and you alone—are responsible for your own success. No “respectable” publisher will look out for your writing career, not anymore.

There are indie publishers who may help you with your career. Niche publishers. Boutique publishers. They don’t get into Barnes & Noble, either. (Nor into Walmart.) You might find one who has developed a business model and market that works well with what you want to write and who you want to write it to. In terms of “getting published,” they are part of the future.

The other part is the indie author. Not the self-published author, who’s only publishing her own stuff so that she can see it in print, or so that she can give copies to friends and family, or as an experiment or stop-gap measure until she can find a “real” publisher. But the indie author, who pursues self-publishing as part of her business model, who runs her own publishing company, and who thereby manages her career for her own ultimate success.

The end of Borders doesn’t portend the end of the book industry. It announces the arrival of the new book industry. Be proud to be part of it!

Keep writing!
-TimK

Carnival of Storytelling – July 14, 2011

J. Timothy King — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the July 14, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling.

Enjoy!

Writers

Lisa Hood presents The 10 Absolute Creepiest Moments in David Lynch’s Oeuvre posted at ZenCollegeLife. [David Lynch is not a "writer" in the sense that he's not a screenwriter. But as a director, his work informs us writers in general, because his vision helps form the creative process. -TimK]

Kevin Cullis posted A Blog, a Book and a Business: One Author’s Journey at ProBlogger – For someone who did not enjoy writing, writing provided an outlet he couldn’t resist, and an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.

Books etc.

Lori reviews One Summer (Shelter Bay, Book 2), by JoAnn Ross, at Book Binge – A crusty hero with a squishy marshmallow center, and a competent, smart, sexy heroine.

An anonymous blogger posted Today’s Book – The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton at Just Book Reading – “Faeries are not a staple of my fantasy reading but [after watching this book trailer] why can’t they be?”

Art and Craft

Bryan Keithley presents Borrowing Writing Tips from the Business World posted at Finally Fast, saying, “What’s better than being a writer? Being a well-paid writer. And if the business world has found some truisms for storytelling, maybe we had better sit up in our chairs and take notice.”

Seth Godin posted Writing naked (nakeder than Orwell) at Seth’s Blog – Revising Orwell’s rules of writing, according to the rules themselves. “The reason business writing is horrible is that people are afraid.” Yup. I’ve been there. Done that. Even got humiliated because I refused to give into that fear. (But that’s a different story.)

Writing Life

sokun presents Criticism posted at Abidings.com. [A short rumination on criticism. -TimK]

Hannah Eason presents Ain’t No Rest for the Greedy posted at Hannah, Writer, saying, “Thoughts on being greedy enough to get motivated to write a novel.”

Greg McFarlane posted Writing is Easy; Editing is Hard at ProBlogger – As soon as you say something insightful, poignant, and meaningful, people will start to hate you. That’s when you know you’re on the right track.

Fiction and True Stories

Byteful Travel presents Exploring Pier 39, Chinatown, & My Own Personal Parade in San Francisco, CA posted at Byteful Travel, saying, “Before I actually went and wandered the streets myself, I never realized how dynamic and incredible San Francisco can truly be. Today’s story is a retelling of my first visit to San Francisco on my epic West Coast Journey. And as it turned out, I’d picked just about the perfect day to begin my San Francisco explorations, and not just because it felt like a parade was thrown in my honor… but we’ll get to that.”

Publishing and Marketing

Patricia presents How to publish a book? posted at ePublishing a Book.

Jason Boog posted Twitter Profile Mistakes Writers Should Avoid at GalleyCat – Since I’m constantly following other authors on Twitter, I can attest: making these five mistakes is one of the simplest ways to keep me from following you.

Robin Sullivan posted The New Midlist: Self-published E-book Authors Who Earn a Living at Publishing Perspectives – As traditional, mass-market publishers have continued to devalue the mid-list of authors who continuously make a living writing books, self- and indie publishing has become a viable alternative.

Resources

PLEASE, over the following week, if you run across an interesting upcoming contest, call for submissions, list of agents or publishers, or any other resource that you think writers should have at their disposal, please submit the link for next week’s edition.

AND That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Storytelling using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

A Sneak Peek at the Ardor Point #2 Outline

J. Timothy King — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:15:18 +0000

I’ve been working on-and-off on this outline for over a year and a half now. I could go down the list of excuses and reasons why it took so long. – And it’s still not “finished” yet, but I can’t stand it anymore, so I’ve started on the “zero-draft.”

I’d like to share with you my outline for the novel, and some stories around it, how I’m using my process on this novel. I’m hoping this will give you some ideas or inspirations for the story you’re working on.

The Summary

The process I follow starts with a one-sentence summary of the story, as many writers do. My original sentence went like this:

A newlywed bride, at a romantic, seaside cottage on her first wedding anniversary, as the onset of economic depression threatens to tear her marriage apart, finds joy.

I didn’t really like that. Too vague. Too blasé. Too blech. But it was enough to keep me focused on what I wanted the story to be about.

However, I revamped the sentence when I started the zero-draft. Here’s how it stands now:

A devoted newlywed wife struggles with her marriage when a recession threatens her husband’s career, and finds an unexpected source of strength.

Better, eh? Partially because I’ve better defined the characters and focus of the story, partially because of changes in the way I formulate my one-sentence summaries since a year and a half ago. I didn’t mention the setting, although it’s a key part of the story, but instead alluded to the story’s message of hope. The main character now is “devoted [to her husband]“— Please don’t judge her; she doesn’t know what she’s doing (yet). And when a recession threatens her husband’s life and identity, it affects their marriage, throwing her own life into turmoil.

The Characters

I started with bulleted lists of notes on the characters. For Devon, the main character, I added more details in paragraph form. But her husband David, I didn’t feel I needed to flesh him out any more. Why not? Because he’s going through a deep depression, and depressed characters are incredibly one-dimensional and full of surprises (because of common myths people hold regarding depression). Don’t get me wrong; he has a past, and his past will come into play in the story, but I think I can make it up as I go along. I’ll probably end up going back to his character and fleshing it out more, as I draft his part of the story.

David Richardson

Nickname: Skeeter (or “Skeet” for short). Wants to be called “David.”

Associates his nickname with the factors that caused him lose his job. (He got laid off, but he still blames himself for not being “indispensable” to his employer.)

Needs to feel secure, and he depends on the perception of a firm financial footing to meet that need.

Needs to feel useful, and he depends on having a regular job to meet that need.

23 years old

His previous employer handled the layoffs poorly, announcing them at a company meeting. Some of the employees started shouting back during the meeting. Memories of the hurtful shouts haunt him.

He runs into an old girlfriend at the mall, begins talking to her.

They have negative value in their home, and they have a mortgage and expenses.

Everything reminds him of his situation, pulling him deeper into depression, because of the perspective he puts on everything he perceives.

Devon Richardson

21 years old

thinks poorly of her own value

afraid that her husband might leave her

wants to talk to her husband about all that they are facing (but he doesn’t want to)

avoids talking about her marriage with friends (Why?)

has always been “good” (but at root—unknown to her—not for religious reason; rather, because she has been afraid of taking risks in her relationships), and feels God “owes” her

has a spiritual awakening, which begins when she admits that she’s afraid of losing the things that money can buy — a divine revelation? through an experience that she attributes to God?

begins to act out because of the stress

abuses her checkbook, going antiquing etc., when she feels her husband isn’t connecting with her

wants to tell her husband what’s on her mind, because she needs that connection

Devon’s sister is critically injured in a car accident. She’s worried, but David doesn’t even want to hear about it.

[Someone] looks at her, touches her arm, hugs her, in a way that makes her feel uncomfortable.

Devon seeks stability and trust in relationships, because it boosts her self-esteem. So she needs self-esteem, and she pursues it by seeking signals of esteem from others. She invests her self-esteem in the esteem of others, which she perceives in the stability of her relationships. This is why, for example, she fears that her husband may leave her, if things between them get bad enough.

She also enjoys collecting antiques and restoring her old house, because the oldness she associates with stability. Devon first developed an interest in antiques when her grandmother gave her an old knickknack, which reminded her of her grandmother.

She finds self-esteem in possessing old things, and when she perceives her relationships shaking, she goes antiquing. This is especially true when circumstances make her feel she’s losing control, because shopping gives her a way to assert control over those needs.

Devon’s father threatened to withhold his love from her, unless she was “good.” But in reality, it was his perception of her that was “good” or “bad,” and she perceived this as closeness between them. This set up a pattern, that she perceived love and self-worth when things were going well in her relationships, especially with the opposite sex. (This has not made her a wuss, because she learned to put on airs of confidence in order to gain her parents’ approval; but she does tend to adopt views that she thinks will increase the closeness she perceives.)

She frequently second-guesses (and cares about) others’ impressions of her. Devon also assumes that if someone doesn’t respond positively to her, that it’s her fault (even though most people respond to circumstances, not to those around them).

She works at a Build-a-Bear Workshop retail location.

Devon loves kids and is good with them. She treats them differently than her parents treated her and promises to raise her kids with different values (even though she and her husband have no immediate plans to start a family).

The Plot

When plotting, I start by defining a number of story threads, each of which thickens as the story progresses, each of which interacts with the others in various scenes.

Then I number out the scenes and describe them each briefly. This is a short novel, so I only have 40-50 scenes, each of which will average 1000-1250 words (4-5 manuscript pages) in the final rendition of the story. As you can see, I haven’t really thought through every scene yet, so I’ll need to go back to this summary and expand it as the shape of the plot becomes clearer. I’m also not too happy with some of these scenes, as they currently stand, so I’ll no doubt be modifying them as I write up the zero-draft (which contains 100-200 words per scene, or 4K-10K words—just enough detail to tell me whether I’m on the right track or not).

Story Threads

(a) Devon wrestles with her need for self-esteem, finally finding it in a belief that God loves her unconditionally.

(1) Devon grew up learning to find her value in the things she possesses, including the people in her life (as possessions).

(b) David wrestles with depression following the loss of his job.

(1) David has always tended to respond negatively when things don’t go well for him.

(c) Devon and David wrestle with their marriage: Devon fears David will leave her, acts out by antiquing, which angers David, because she is wasting money they don’t have.

(d) Devon and David wrestle with making ends meet financially.

Scene Summaries

Note: Present-time scenes are written in third-person omniscient (but only WRT David’s & Devon’s thoughts), while past-time scenes are written in first-person subjective from the perspective of a given character (David or Devon).

Each scene is identified by the story threads it affects. Scenes marked with ✮ are major plot points.

(a) (b) (d) David, laid off and suffering from depression, arrives at an Ardor Point cottage with his wife Devon, on their one-year wedding anniversary, a trip they had booked before he had lost his job.

(a) (c) David wants to lay on the couch and watch DVDs, but Devon badgers him into a romantic walk with her to the beach.

(b)(1) (POV David) A go-get-’em up-and-comer, he lost his job as the result of a bitter political split within the company.

(b) (c) Mistakenly leading him the wrong way (away from the beach), they come to the playground, kids playing, mothers gabbing, and Devon immediately joins in, while David stands by and stews at the inane conversation, itching to escape, finally walking off and leaving her there.

(a) Devon chats with the others about antique shops, hears that there are some great “bargains” available in such-and-such a store.

(a)(1) (POV Devon) [a memory about her grandmother & their antiques, contrast the connection Devon had with her grandmother against her relationships with others, including her husband]

(c) David begins to watch a movie and falls asleep on the couch. [The movie he chooses and his interpretation of it reflects his perceptions of their marriage.]

(b)(1) (POV David) David and Devon meet, and David flaunts his family background and education, and Devon swoons.

(b) David wakes up, alone with his thoughts. Can’t do anything right. Even the DVD fails to play correctly, and he can’t fix it, and can’t handle it, and takes it personally.

✮ (a) (b) (c) Devon tries to seduce David, but in his depressed state, David is not interested, which Devon interprets as a message that he’s getting fed up with her and their relationship. She mentions the last time they had sex, weeks ago. (“What an awful thing to say!” moment, but it should be clear that David is acting out and blaming himself, and that Devon’s perception is colored by her own needs.)

(a) David and Devon spend a rainy afternoon at Mr. and Mrs. Potter’s. Mrs. Potter, like a mind-reader, begins to hit on issues that have been bothering Devon, which wigs her out. (Mr. & Mrs. Potter also mention in passing the church they attend while they’re staying at the point, St. Matthew’s, in town.)

(a)(1) (POV Devon) []

(b) David begins to open up to Mr. Potter about how he feels. Devon walks in and redirects the conversation, embarrassed that David is sharing their personal business with strangers.

(d) Devon suspects that she might be pregnant, when she starts experiencing headaches, nausea, and other symptoms. But she’s afraid to tell her husband about her pregnancy, because she’s afraid of his wildly shifting moods.

(b)(1) (POV David) [something about his old girlfriend]

(a) While in town at Walmart with Devon, David runs into an old girlfriend, who moved to the Brunswick area. (Devon also notices a pregnancy test while shopping there.) David’s ex is touchy-feely with him, and David seems happier chewing over old times with her than he does with Devon.

✮ (b) (c) David’s thoughts advise him to leave Devon. “She’s not good for you.” List all the reasons why. (“She’s out of control. She’s always trying to manipulate you. She’s not interested in you, just in your money. She has emotional problems, over-controlling, over-demanding. You can never satisfy her. It would be better if you had never gotten married, better for her, better for both of you. It would be better if you were not there to make her life miserable.” He even blames himself for her now constant nausea.)

(c) (d) Devon makes some excuse, escapes to the store to buy a pregnancy test. Ends up passing an antique place, stops in and ends up buying an item.

(c) David just frowns, that angry scowl, when he discovers Devon’s antique purchase. She wants to talk to him about the pregnancy test, but she doesn’t, because of his mood. (David watches TV all the time.)

(a) (d) As Devon waits for the test, she considers the option of abortion, to ease the pressure on David, but she doesn’t feel very good about that possibility, because she likes kids and wants to have a family. The test comes out positive.

(a)(1) (POV Devon) []

(b) Devon receives a phone call telling her that her sister was critically injured in a car accident. David doesn’t even want to hear about it (because he’s already overloaded with his own worries, but that’s not how Devon takes his reaction).

(a) Devon comes out to her hubby, admitting her fear that he might leave her, telling him that she no longer cares, because she has “something better now.” [Talking about the baby.] David is annoyed that she would think he would leave her. Doesn’t she know she’s not the only person on the planet!?

(a)(1) (POV David) []

(c) David loses his temper when Devon calls him “Skeet” once too often. Pained, she relents, carefully.

(a) (c) Devon talks to her newfound friends at the point about her marriage. They theorize that David may be suffering a delayed reaction from a concussion. [source? college sports?]

✮ (a) (b) (c) After Devon macho-flashes the idea to David, they decide to separate. (black moment) [breakfast scene]

(a) Devon stops at a coffee shop in a book store and encounters numerous young women with small children, talking about their kids, comparing names, ages, developmental milestones, schools & preschools, daily routines, &c. She blames herself for not being more patient with David; after all, it’s “not his fault.”

(b) David walks out to the dock, and he thinks about jumping in and swimming out into the abyss, like Esther Greenwood. Except that he’d actually succeed in not coming back. [Reasons why ending his life would be a solution to his perceived problems.]

(a) Devon stops alongside the road, trying to find St. Matthew’s on her GPS. Someone asks her for money. She forgets (then later remembers) that she had shoved some cash into her pocket. Then he asks if she has a phone he could borrow to call. In the grips of sudden fear, she lies and says, “No.”

(b) David visits Mr. Potter, who tells stories of similar situations in his life. [Family?]

(a) (b) David figures out that Devon is pregnant, and his mood brightens.

(a) Devon finds herself at St. Matthew’s, talking to Father Reilly.

(b) David’s depression lifts, as he awakens with a new hope and vigor, seeing all kinds of possibilities in his future.

✮ (a) (b) (c) [turn the corner: David begins to woo Devon, who is still reeling from the fight and still pondering Father Reilly’s words]

[Devon’s sister]

[]

[how are they going to afford a family?]

[]

[]

[finale]

Yeah, I know. Info-dumps suck.

But I’m actually looking forward to how this story is coming along.

For one of the story’s themes, I started with a quote attributed to Jim Laffoon: “If you have been reduced to God being your only hope, you are in a good place.” Hope stands as the important word in that sentence, for this story, because hope is what pushes us forward, even when all around our lives seem to be lost. And I wanted to push my characters to the point where their entire world seemed to be falling apart, each in her own way.

But I couldn’t figure out what that quote really means. How is that “a good place”? I’m still not certain of the answer. But I’m hoping I’ll discover it as I finish this story.

Keep writing!
-TimK

More about Book Covers

J. Timothy King — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:47:33 +0000

Photo © 2005 Jenn Calder CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Click here for the original image.

Related to last week’s extensive post on book-cover design for indie authors and publishers, Roger C. Parker posted over the weekend a few more tips for better book covers.

He also linked to a page of interactive book-cover makeovers at Dunn+Associates Design’s web site. For a kick, check out a few, and think about how the “before” and “after” designs use the 10 elements of book-cover design that I talked about last week. Pay particular attention to the title and front-cover graphics. How do the new designs use these more effectively than the “before” covers. Especially if you’re wrestling with a book cover right now, this little experiment should inspire you, if not give you a spark of enlightenment.

-TimK

P.S. With at least one of the book covers in Dunn Design’s exhibit (Mark A. Williams’s Your Identity Zones), the author rejected the book cover that his publisher preferred. Traditionally published authors should understand book-cover design, too, in order to use whatever influence you have with your publisher to ensure your book gets an effective design. (Although, as far as I can tell, both the “before” and “after” covers of that book were good covers. The “after” version was marginally better, because it had more focus—less clutter—and highlighted the title more. So it might split-test significantly better than the “before” version. Yeah, at some point, I’ll have to write an article on how to split-test a book cover.)

P.P.S. [update] Kristen Lamb posted over on her blog an interesting guest post by Maria Zannini, a list of Down & Dirty Tips for Creating Cover Art. I’m not sure I agree with all of her advice, e.g., to necessarily put something visually stimulating on the left side to guide the viewer’s gaze toward the right—I would usually start in the middle and work toward the edges, keeping in mind the rule of thirds… but that’s a whole other blog post. Her tips will certainly get you thinking.

-TimK

How to Design Your Book Cover

J. Timothy King — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:00:43 +0000

Cover for "From the Ashes of Courage," so that you can see how I made use of cover elements, and how I could have made better use of them. (Click for a larger view.)

As an indie author, you probably need to understand book-cover design. Traditionally published authors have their publishers’ experts to design their covers (whether or not those experts are worthy of the designation). Self-published authors, just printing up a few copies for family and friends, will probably be satisfied with the très kewl cover design tools at Lulu. But us indie authors need something more than a bare-bones, stock cover. And we don’t have the budget for a professional designer. And even if we do, we don’t have a publishing company helping us choose the designer. So we need to understand book-cover design, if not to design a decent cover ourselves, at least to know what to work on with our designer.

So what makes a good cover?

The cover is the first thing a prospective reader will see of your book. This is true whether she’s looking online or whether someone hands her a copy, or even if she happens to see a copy in a bookstore.

When someone picks up a new book for the first time, watch them. Here’s what they do:

The examine the front cover.
If they like what they see, they turn the book over and read the back-cover copy.
If they still like what they see, they flip the book open to the first page.

This is the order in which you should design your book cover. The front cover must pique her interest and make her want to find out more about the book. And that’s all it should do. The only function of the front cover is to make the prospective reader want to read the back cover. The only function of the back cover is to make her want to crack open the book. And the function of the first page inside the front cover is to set her on a “slippery slide” (to use Joe Sugarman’s terminology) that will end with her buying and reading your book.

The front cover should contain prominent elements—like the title and cover image—that catch the eye and pique the interest. The back cover leverages those elements with descriptive text, to excite and hook the potential reader. The inside-front cover and first page contain additional sales elements, such as bulleted features or testimonials, to close the sale if the cover failed to do so.

Book-cover elements

To make this sequence work, you have a number of elements you can use:

Title – This is probably the most important element of your book (unless you’re Nora Roberts or Stephen King—more on that later), especially if it’s a non-fiction book. The purpose of the title is to make your reader look at the subtitle, and the purpose of the subtitle is to make her turn the book over and read the back cover.

For From the Ashes of Courage, I began with a list of words that related to the theme of the story. Then I combined them in various ways: adjective + noun, noun + preposition + noun, and so forth. I chose my three favorites. Then I actually tested the prospective titles and subtitles in Internet ads, to see which one provoked the most interest.
Subtitle – All non-fiction books should have a subtitle, and most fiction books as well. The subtitle expands on the title and helps incite your reader to turn the book over and read the back cover. Your book’s title and subtitle must make the right prospective reader want to know more, and you should probably ad-test them to verify that they accomplish that purpose.

The subtitle of the Ashes of Courage book is “An Ardor Point Novel.” I actually ad-tested this with the title, knowing that I hoped to reuse it over a series of books.
Photos or drawings – A photo adds visual richness and an emotional dimension to a cover. This is especially true for novels, but no less so for non-fiction books. The purpose of the photo is to get your reader’s attention, hook her with an emotional subtext, and lead her to the title and subtitle. Glancing at the cover photo, you should be able to tell whether the novel is a romance, a thriller, a fantasy, a murder mystery, a space opera, or whatever. For a non-fiction book, a well-chosen front-cover graphic should support the main theme of the book and serve as an icon for its content.

In the Ashes of Courage book cover, I used a stock photo for the front cover. You can license high-quality, royalty-free, stock photos from several sites, for less money than you’ll spend on your first box of books, and such a photo adds a pro flair to your cover design. For the back cover, I found a shot that a photography enthusiast had taken of Merepoint, Maine (the real-life location that inspired Ardor Point). I licensed this photo from her, manipulating it slightly to fit in with the rest of the cover design.
Color scheme and fonts – Some graphic designers swear by their favorite colors and fonts, and swear against other colors and fonts. I don’t know that it’s quite that big of a deal, but you should definitely be aware of your color and font choices. The color scheme and fonts on your cover should first of all be legible, and second of all, they should support the feeling you want to evoke. A fantasy-romance, for example, would probably use a different font than a business textbook, but there are any number of fonts that each of these might use.

The font and colors of From the Ashes of Courage, I chose them thinking “a romantic sunset on the beach,” which is also the theme of photo, coincidentally (or maybe not so coincidentally).
Author – If you’re Stephen King or Nora Roberts (or Kathy Reichs—as in the book cover example below), your publisher will put your name top and center on your front cover, in huge letters. That’s because your name is what’s selling the book. On popular novels, the author’s name is usually more important even than the title of the book. Maybe everyone knows that Stephen King has a new book out, but maybe they don’t all remember what it’s called. I’m not convinced that this rule holds for indie authors (or even for mid-list authors). And I’m certain it doesn’t hold for non-fiction books. While you might still want to put your name on the front cover, you probably want to keep it subservient to the title and subtitle.

As you can see, I kept my name at the top of the cover, but off to the edge and in a smaller font than the title. I reasoned that it would probably be important someday to my die-hard fans, but that the title and photo were the central elements that should dominate the cover.
Front-cover text – You may have opportunity to include snippets of text on the front cover, to reinforce the front cover’s mission. If you do have such an opportunity, take it. This is why books often have words like “New York Times best-selling author!” in a smaller font on the front cover, because the author’s name is selling the book, and any little bit of “Ooh! Aah!” you can add to reinforce that strategy, you Ooh! it and you Aah! it.

You can see that I put no supplemental text on the front cover above, not even a glowing quote from an unknown nobody. Change of strategy: publicize the next book at least to fellow indie authors, and ask for a marketing one-liner.
Back-cover heading and text – The back cover should tell the reader something about what’s in the book— unless you’re selling the book solely on popularity, in which case you should fill the back cover with testimonials. For most of us, the back cover should begin with a heading that leads into a block of text. This text is an advertisement for your book. I don’t have the space in this short (and quickly growing longer) blog post to talk about what makes a good ad. However, I can say this: the back cover is not a description of the book; it’s not a book report for your fifth-grade school teacher; rather, it’s a teaser, something that must make a prospective reader want to read the book.

I started with my single-sentence description of the novel, which was designed to highlight the “I gotta read this!” points of the story, and I expanded on it. Since the book is a romance, I said something about the characters, and their problems, and the hook, and a hint that there might be an unexpected twist in their story.
ISBN – In your cover design, remember to leave room for the ISBN bar code, at the bottom edge of the back cover. Most books put it in the middle, but it is acceptable to put the bar code off to one side or the other. And while the bar code can be on a field of any light color, the more contrast (white and black), the better.

In my process, this bar code is added later, after the cover is designed. But I still had to allocate a 1.75″ x 1″ space for it, which I marked with a white-filled rectangular.
Spine – The spine is what a prospective reader will see first if he doesn’t see your front cover first. So the spine has the most important elements from the front cover, usually the title and author name. Sometimes, publishers will also include a selling point, like “#1 Best-selling Author!” on the spine, because in a bookstore, most books are spine-out. A prospective reader will browse book spines on the shelves, looking for one to pull out and look at more closely. So in that context, the purpose of the spine is to make the reader want to look at the front cover.
First-page text – The first page, just inside the front cover, even before the title page: oft-overlooked prime real-estate. Here you can include bullet points describing features the reader will find in the book, or reviewer testimonials, or even an author bio (if you think it’ll help sell the book). You can even include reviewer comments regarding an earlier book in the series, or another book written by the same author. Anything that didn’t fit on the back cover can go here.

For Ashes of Courage, I didn’t forget about the first page. Rather, I ran out of material, a definite lack of marketing foresight. (For my previous book, I filled this space with bullet points and reader testimonials.) As I said, for the next Ardor Point book, I’ll have to get more feedback from fellow authors and ask for testimonials.

Death du Jour, by Kathy Reichs

Another example, this time by a pop author, that demonstrates the principles above.

The two most important elements are the author’s name and the title, in that order. These two elements dominate both the front cover and the spine.
There’s no front-cover image to speak of—there’s no room after the author’s name and the title. But in the background is a map of Montreal and the surrounding area, where the story takes place.
The large, capitalized, serif font and the black-and-red-and-white color scheme enhance the feel of a mystery thriller (which this novel is).
Front-cover and spine text: “New York Times Bestselling Author…” and “#1 International Bestselling Author,” as well as a quote from People magazine and an announcement of an upcoming TV series based on the novels. Even the publisher’s logo on the spine. All these help reinforce the impression that this is a well-read and well-liked popular book. And if everyone else is reading it… Well, my personal gut reaction is that if everyone else is reading it, that probably means it falls into Sturgeon’s 90% that constitutes “crud.” And my momma always told me, if everyone else jumped off a cliff, does that mean I should, too? But that’s one of my unusual quirks. Most people go with the more instinctive reaction: if everybody’s reading it, then I have to, too.
Similarly, on the back cover, more praise for Kathy Reichs, along with a one-sentence hook about the novel’s story, followed by the title. That kicks off a more elaborate teaser. I myself would have omitted the title from the back cover, and put the sentence at the top in boldface… or at least I would insist on split-tests that proved that the way they did it was better.
The back cover also has a quote from USA Today. And the raves continue inside the front cover, with more quotes about Death du Jour, some reviewer raves for another of Kathy Reichs’s novels, and a smattering of cover images for other books, along with short quotes about those books. All of this supports the impression that Kathy Reichs is a prolific, well-published, and popular author. Everyone is reading her books, and her books keep getting published and keep selling. Therefore, if everyone is reading her books, I gotta read them, too!
One side note: On the back cover, just above the ISBN barcode, the publisher has included a note: “Register online at www.simonsays.com for more information on this and other great books.” I would be interested to know how many people actually see this note and respond to it. It’s in completely the wrong place, and it’s not specific enough. The note should be on the book’s title page or on the last page, after the story, in a location a satisfied reader is more likely to see it. And if you pull up that URL in your web browser, you simply see the publisher’s web site. Nothing about “registering,” at least not prominently displayed there. It’s a good idea to use your physical book as a calling card to connect with readers online, and a strategy I include in every one of my books. But I’m not convinced that cover real-estate is best used for that function.

Talyn, by Holly Lisle

And one more example, one of my favorite novels of all time (which is why it’s so well-worn), by mid-list author Holly Lisle.

Title: “Talyn.” Author: “Holly Lisle.” Subtitle: “A Novel of the [sic] Korre.” (Oy vey. Korre is a place, not a thing.) Holly is a mid-list author, so her (rabid) fans (among which I proudly count myself) will notice her name. But most new readers will be swayed by the graphics, title, teaser, and testimonials.
Graphic elements: A semi-nude Talyn, with her warrior’s braids and tattoos, standing before an altar of candles; the wall of a primitive structure in the background; a sword; red and brown and yellow colors; a sword-like stylized font. Could it be a fantasy about a beautiful female warrior from an exotic culture? Yeah, it just might. All of these front-cover images have special meaning to fans of the book, as well, since they’re prominent elements in the story universe.
Front-cover text: a testimonial by a “New York Times bestselling author.” Because we all know that New York Times bestselling authors have more valuable opinions on books than, say, you or I. But again, it triggers a human instinct, that if a well-liked celebrity author loves this book, even if I’ve never heard of her or her work, then it’s gotta be worth reading. Note also that including the name “Jacqueline Carey” and the title of her bestselling novel “Kushiel’s Dart,” these pieces of information add credibility to the testimonial, even if you’ve never heard of Jacqueline before or her novel.
Back cover: Highlighted header leading into a teaser. And another testimonial. (All this should be old hat to you by now.) Leading into the first page inside the front cover, which displays more testimonials, including— Hold on! Haven’t I seen that quote from Robin Hobb somewhere before?
The only thing they could have done better, perhaps, is to include a brief author bio in the empty space on the first page: “author of over 30 novels, two-time Campbell Award finalist,” and so forth.

I haven’t gone into any of the nuts and bolts, what software to use and how to create any of the effects you see here. That is so another post (or two or three or ten). But hopefully, if you’re serious about indie-publishing your books, this will give you an idea of how to approach the design of the cover.

Keep writing!
-TimK

What Does Seduction Look Like?

J. Timothy King — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:00:36 +0000

Photo © 2009 Carsten Tolkmit CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
(Click here for the original image.)

Max, a young writer, asks:

I am writing a story and need a visual description for a female “seductive” (if you know what I mean) antagonist. Or should I even describe her? I’ve seen that done well. This is actually one of my deeper characters.

Hi, Max. The easiest answer I can think to give is: Think of what you like to see in a woman. Then write it down.

I know that sounds simplistic, and it is. But each of us, to some extent, has pre-programmed into him the building blocks for sexual attraction. So the first step is probably to ask yourself, “What would make me feel and think and act the way I want my protagonist to feel and think and act?”

With most writers, this is where writing begins, inside. You empathize with your characters, tap into that part of yourself that feels and acts the same way they do, so that you can understand their story.

But while you’re doing this, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Description is an action verb. (Okay, description is actually a noun, but bear with me.) What the seductress does and says is more important than how she looks. A picture is worth a thousand words. Or as writers say, “Show; don’t tell.”
A story comes from character action, not fictional molecules and light rays. Remember the First and Second Laws of Character Action. Start with your characters’ needs, and determine how they use their resources to act to meet those needs.
Use all your senses. Description is not only visual! How does her voice sound? How does she smell? Do you feel a breath of air across your face as she passes? Growing up with television, we tend to see stories in terms of the visual. But breaking that mold is one of the easiest ways to add spice to your descriptions.
It may be about sex, but that’s not where you need to focus. Writing an evil seductress is similar to writing a sex scene. We think of her as using sex-appeal to achieve an end, but we can’t ever actually say that. We can’t say that she’s sexy. And we can’t describe the conflict that results. We must feel it instead.
Focus on the characters. How does she make the protagonist feel? What does he think? What does he want? And how do those create conflict inside of his mind? What changes are in store for him if he chooses one path or the other?
For more information… Explore the truth behind the fiction. Research human sensuality to add to your idea-base. Read non-fiction. Watch non-fiction. Use Google. Research the obvious. If you have NetFlix, check out a documentary called The Science of Sex Appeal for more ideas. (Resist the temptation to infuse your descriptions with scientific explanations. That’s a different—though important—topic.) But don’t pay attention so much to the scientists; pay attention to the ordinary people they interview for the documentary and to those they recruit as guinea pigs for their experiments. In general, a healthy diet of non-fiction is one of the best sources of nourishment to feed your fiction writing.

Well, Max, I hope that’s enough to give you some ideas.

I also hope it’s not so much that it overwhelms you. Remember that this story does not need to be the end-all and be-all of your writing career, wherever that career takes you. I know there’s a lot there. But I didn’t put together this list as a set of requirements that your story must meet. No writer can ever meet every requirement every potential reader has, anyhow. You have to meet the requirements that you yourself feel are important. So think of this list as more of a menu of ingredients: choose the ones that intrigue you, and experiment with them, and grow through the experience.

Keep writing!
-TimK

Carnival of Storytelling – June 30, 2011

J. Timothy King — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:44:27 +0000

Welcome to the June 30, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a link at BlogCarnival.com. Please browse their blog posts, and share your own favorite posts from your own writing blog for next week’s carnival.

Enjoy!

Writers

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Books etc.

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Art and Craft

Matthew Hyde presents Writer’s Block and how to overcome it through the medium of whining posted at Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth.

Writing Life

Matthew Hyde presents Human Rights and Hairy Cornflakes: How Aung San Suu Kyi unexpectedly has something in common with Dave Lee Travis posted at Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth, saying, “A post on how a BBC DJ helped a human rights icon and its implications for writers.”

Fiction and True Stories

Eirini H. presents A meeting in another dimension: in memory of my father posted at Ask your Dreams for Ideas.

An anonymous submitter presents Cold War Torture posted at Dear L.E.P., saying, “A metaphoric piece.”

Lynette Rash presents The Last Dance posted at Rooted in Atascocita, saying, “A beautifully inspiring story about life and love.”

Publishing and Marketing

Jennifer Saksa presents Record Your Own Audio Book posted at NCH Software Blog.

Joel Friedlander presents Book Design Language — The Book Designer posted at Joel Friedlander.

Resources

Erica Morgan presents 10 Unusual Sites to Visit for Quick Book Reviews posted at Internet Providers.

AND That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Storytelling using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Monday Morning #CharacterStory Writing Prompts 2011/06/27

J. Timothy King — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:00:01 +0000

A photo: top of this post, which the artist has entitled, “Never a frown, with golden brown.” (Click for a larger view.)
A personality type: ISFP.
A need: the need for emotional intimacy.
A quirk: Always writes in 1337-5p34k (leet-speak).

Feel free to comment below with a link to your story if you use any of these prompts. (Or even if you don’t.) You can also submit your story to the Carnival of Storytelling, which is posted on Thursdays. And whatever you do…

Keep writing!
-TimK

Monday Morning #CharacterStory Writing Prompts 2011/06/20

J. Timothy King — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Happy birthday to me! (Yup. Don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.)

A photo: top of this post, which the artist has entitled, “.” (Click for a larger view.)
A personality type: ENFP.
A need: the need for attention.
A quirk: Loves to dance, and does not have to be on the dance floor.

Keep writing!
-TimK

Carnival of Storytelling – June 16, 2011

J. Timothy King — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:00:02 +0000

Welcome to the June 16, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a link at BlogCarnival.com. Please browse their blog posts, and share your own favorite posts from your own writing blog for next week’s carnival.

Enjoy!

Writers

—

Books etc.

—

Art and Craft

Some links I pulled out of my own feed:

Lara Zielin posts Novel Psychology at Help for Writers: a brief rumination on injecting psyche into our fictional characters.
K.M. Weiland posts 3 Easy (or Easier) Ways to Build Suspense at Wordplay: A guest post by short story author Brayden Hirsch.
Rachelle Gardner posts That Pesky Exclamation Point!!! (And Other Annoying Devices) at Rants & Ramblings: When to use exclamation points!!!, italics, boldface, and ALL CAPS in your published fiction. (Hint: It’s a simpler rule than you may think.)

Writing Life

FLeonard presents A Fork in the Road: Rebel Literacy posted at A Fork in the Road, saying, “When we talk about writing, it’s important to remember that we’re also talking about reading. In many countries literacy is a fundamental part of our education. In others, not so much…”

Matthew Hyde presents Pick Up Your Pen posted at Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth.

Fiction and True Stories

Peter Bourke presents Vodka, Rejection and Broken Toilet Seats posted at Drunken Tales and Sober Thoughts, saying, “A true and humorous story which presents a real insight into life as a young adult and all the irresponsible drinking and tomfoolery which accompanies it.”

Publishing and Marketing

Joel Friedlander presents The Completely Backwards Way to Amazing Self-Publishing Success — The Book Designer posted at Joel Friedlander.

Jacob D presents Free Publishing Your Book: Cover Design 101 posted at The Writer Tank Journal.

Resources

—

AND That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Storytelling using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Writing Tip: Research the Obvious

J. Timothy King — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:00:13 +0000

Let’s say you’re writing a scene in your story, a scene that takes place in a beauty salon. Now, if you yourself have spent 20 years working in beauty salons, maybe you can write that scene off the top your head. But if you’re like most of us, you have only passing exposure to life in a beauty salon. And if you’re like me, you’ve never actually gone inside one.

The classic way out of this, of course, is to “write what you know.” So if you don’t know beauty salons, don’t write them…

Yeah, right.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s nice when you can write in a field in which you have some expertise. But if you plan to write more than one or two stories, you’ll need to get into the details of many fields and situations, settings and cultures, in which you have little or no direct knowledge. To some extent, this is always true of a fiction author, because you’re writing events that never actually occurred, in places that may not exist, in cultures that you may have made up, using technology that may never be developed, in times that have not even happened yet. How, pray tell, in the nature of reality do they expect you to “write what you know”?!

The best that we can hope for is to get it as close to plausible as we can.

One way we can accomplish this is by researching areas we’re unfamiliar with, then describing and explaining them to our readers. The problem is that we tend to assume we “know” things we don’t.

For example, this may come in handy the next time you have to write a drowning scene: Neil Shurley posted on Facebook a fascinating article explaining that real-life drowning doesn’t look like movie drowning. Who would’a thunk it? Our widespread popular misperceptions of what a drowning person looks like and acts like— You could be swimming, and your kid could be drowning only a few feet from you, and you would never know it, much less how to save him. So how would your fictional scene play out? What would your average, everyday character see and perceive? But a lifeguard character would know what drowning looks like, because he’s been trained. And if you needed to describe the scene from the drowning character’s perspective, you’d need to understand the realities of drowning, what happens to the human body and mind.

Never assume you know how something looks, or acts, or what the rules are. Because our perceptions have usually been distorted by popular television and movies (and novels, too), for dramatic effect. If you’re a Mythbusters fan, you’ve seen them tear apart numerous movie myths, documenting the reality of each situation. Why these movie dramatics seem plausible in the context of the original fiction, that’s a topic for a different post. But if the unrealistic dramatics can be made to seem plausible, how much more so the reality?

The first time I wrote a scene that involved a gun, I was proud to have gotten the details right. Just a little research, on gun technology, types of guns, real-world best practices, things that anyone who has taken an introductory gun course would know. And integrating this knowledge into the scene did not compromise the integrity or drama of the scene; in fact, it enhanced it.

Even if you decide you want to stick with the dramatic myths, you should at least know what the truth is. Because this research can uncover related information that you can use to improve your story. When I was writing “The Widow’s Granddaughter,” my first idea for the hero character, Jeffrey, was to make him a repo man. But the only reason he’d be in a job like that was to be successful, and when was the last time you heard of a “successful” repo man? So I made him a bank executive instead. He hired the repo man. That worked for a while. I got several manuscript pages into the story, and then I needed to look up a detail about repossession. So I asked Google, read some stuff, and ran across a piece of advice written by the owner of a small dealership that self-finances many of its sales. That means the owner himself has to repossess some of the cars he finances. That’s it! I thought. That’s the perfect job for my character. It had an aspect of success, as well as a hands-on aspect that was perfect for my story. So I changed Jeffrey’s career once again. I’m still happy with the way the story ultimately turned out.

When it comes to research for my stories, Google is my friend. Whenever I realize that I need details on a setting, profession, activity, or situation, I pull up my web browser and start typing queries into my favorite search engine.

I’ve also found Holly Lisle’s “33 Mistakes” series of ebooks invaluable for broader subject areas. These ebooks aren’t actually written by Holly, but by authors, experts each in his subject area, whom she’s signed to share their knowledge. Each ebook in the series lists 33 common mistakes fiction authors make when it comes to disappearing in the U.S., blindness, camping, guns, hostels, ballet, construction, San Francisco, or whatever.

Now, don’t go research-crazy. You don’t have to become an expert in every field you write fiction in. We’ve all gotten into research mode, where we keep studying a topic, delving deeper and deeper into it, like there’s gonna be a test on it later. One reason we do this is that it feels good to discover new truths about realities we previously didn’t know about. And that’s cool, and I think every author should allocate time in his schedule to study non-fiction, and to study people.

(As I write this, I’m half-eavesdropping on a pair of obviously successful businesswomen—one of whom apparently owns several Starbucks franchises, if I understood correctly, and the other who is wearing an engagement ring the size of the Pink Panther. They’re hobnobbing loudly at the next table, chatting about their histories, experiences, business values, best management practices, organizing techniques, and so forth. They’re talking at 90 miles an hour, moving from topic to topic at lightning speed. Someday, I’m going to have to write a character based on them.)

So, reading non-fiction is fun. Watching documentaries is also fun. Watching people, way fun, if you can get away with it. But when you’re writing a story, you need to focus on getting the story written. That means, you research until you know enough to write or revise the part of the story you’re currently working on. Then you put the research back up on the shelf and…

Keep writing!
-TimK

What Is a #CharacterStory (and the 2 Laws of Character Action)

J. Timothy King — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:00:09 +0000

I found this photo on Flickr. Entitled “The Problem with Character-Driven Stories,” the photo had an amusing story to go along with it.

As the story goes, there was a writer who was auditioning characters for her next novel. Characters lined up all the way out the writer’s waiting room and around the corner. And most of them, unfortunately, were about the same as all the others. Here’s an example that exemplifies what I’m talking about:

A character named Jean entered, sat down.

“Okay, then, Jean,” said the writer. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I’m 24. I have medium-long mousey-blonde hair. I drink vodka and Coke. I’m pretty boring.”

“And you’d like to be in a story?”

“Yes, please.”

“Any particular subject matter?”

“Well, lost love is sorta done to death, I think. Epiphanies are always good. Some life-changing event, basically.”

“Changing your life from boring to interesting?”

“If you could.”

“Well, I do like character-driven stories, but you really don’t seem to be… well… driving this.”

Jean shrugged. The author continued.

“You don’t have any obsessions, don’t appear to have ever been involved with anyone, aren’t particularly religious. I just really fail to see how I can make a plot from that.”

They went on like that, talked about Jean’s smoking and drinking habits—she didn’t have any and had even made up the part about vodka and Coke. Talked about her friends—again, didn’t have any. Talked about her fluffy, white dog that she walks in the evenings, until it came out that Jean had imagined the dog in order to appear more interesting.

“I’m sorry, Jean,” the writer said. “I really don’t see how we can go anywhere with this. Feel free to come by again once you’ve got a life.”

“Well,” said Jean, “I was rather hoping you’d give me one.”

It’s all in how you tell it

Now, I’ve modified that story slightly, because I think it demonstrates a common misconception about character and what drives character stories, and I wanted to focus on that misconception.

There’s a myth among writers that “interesting” characters make for a compelling story. And that’s not exactly true. Because usually what they mean by “interesting” is characters with family problems or psychological dysfunctions or bizzarre quirks that make them so unlike normal, average, real people. Indeed, many wonderful stories feature such characters. But that’s not what makes those stories compelling.

At core, what makes a story compelling is how a character perceives her needs, and how she seeks to meet those needs. This principle works hand-in-hand with the First Law of Character Action:

The First Law of Character Action
Everyone acts to fulfill their perceived needs.

And everyone has needs. These needs motivate the character, and how she perceives them determines how she will interact with the world around her. Even if a person is living in complete comfort, with all her physical and emotional needs met, she still has a need to grow, to become something more than she already is. And she might, for example, turn to study, or perhaps to a dangerous hobby, or maybe she’ll turn in on herself and sink into depression because her needs aren’t being met. Or she may audition for a part in an author’s upcoming novel.

But Jean above isn’t living in complete comfort. For example, she has no friends. Not even a dog to hang out with. Everyone needs friends, because having friends helps us meet several core human needs.

So yeah, maybe Jean thinks her life is boring, and maybe she thinks she needs a writer to give her some qualities that someone would want to read about. But as a character, it’s not her job to figure out what makes a compelling story. That’s her author’s job. And the character author will ask, “Why does she want a life? What needs is she pursuing? And what can I do to her in order to exacerbate those needs and bring them to crisis, in order to make a more interesting story?”

Yes, character authors are cruel beyond words. We have to be. It’s our job.

In all the dark places you must walk

“May the Gods stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk.” That’s an ancient Egyptian blessing, appropriate to speaking of character arc, which is the second core component of a character story. This blessing is appropriate, because a character arc is all about bringing your character through her own personal hell.

Why? Because of the Second Law of Character Action:

The Second Law of Character Action
Extraordinary changes require extraordinary forces,
and extraordinary forces produce extraordinary changes.

And character change is what makes a character arc. A character arc takes shape when a character changes in how she perceives her reality. The reality itself doesn’t change; only the character’s perception of reality changes.

Jean’s perception of her reality will determine her thought process, what choices she makes, what actions she takes, and how she will rationalize these decisions. And as these change, they’ll shape her story.

Why your character’s changing perception is so important, the reason may not be immediately obvious, because the reason is fairly complex, involving the nature of story conflict and how it interacts with the psychology of your characters. I don’t have space to go into it in this article (though I am going into it in Character Fiction 101). Suffice it to say that if you can convince your character to change the way she thinks about her world, you will be well on your way to plotting out a character arc.

Other variations

These two laws, I believe, comprise the fundamental aspects of a character story, because they define character motivation and character arc. Most authors will add plot that doesn’t result in character change, overarching themes and moods, a favorite setting or character trait. An author might write a story starring a teenage girl, because she’s writing her story to be read by teenage girls. Or she might write a story that includes a bigger-than-life villain who places the hero in mortal danger, because she’s writing a suspense novel. Suspense novels are not necessarily character stories, but there’s no conceptual reason why your suspense novel couldn’t include character change. Plenty of plot-based, suspense TV shows certainly try to do character arcs, some more successfully than others. And there’s usually a character-arc component to romantic suspense, because the romance usually involves character change.

Some authors go on at length dwelling on their characters through slow sections of the story in order to “build” the characters. This is unnecessary, and I myself prefer stories that reveal character through compelling conflict. Scenes that stop the story from moving forward, in order to let the characters talk abstract philosophy or political ideology, not so interesting (unless the discussion is effecting a compelling story conflict). Even so, a character story, by my definition, can take either path.

A simple definition: To write a character story, start with your character’s perceived need, and set about changing how your character repsonds to that need.

Keep writing!
-TimK