Fiona Harper on writing: Your character did WHAT?

This month, Fiona Harper continues talking about the science of emotion and how we can use it to create and motivate well-rounded characters and conflicts. 

Emotion colours the way we see the world. It flavours our experiences, making them unique. As much as we might not want to admit that we invest heavily in our emotions we do. Dr Paul Ekman, author of Emotions Revealed, even goes as far to say that when we feel an emotion, we don’t seek to challenge it; instead we subconsciously seek to confirm it.

Take the following example:

Julie is upset because she and her boyfriend Mark have gone to a party and after the first half hour he seems to have disappeared and left her while he goes off and socialises. When she gets caught up in feeling angry with him, she will absorb only information that meshes with what she is feeling – Mark is laughing with his friends and he has no time for her at all… He hasn’t even thought to see if she wanted a drink in the last fifteen minutes… He hasn’t bothered to introduce her to anyone…

Mark’s starting to sound like a real jerk, right? But maybe he isn’t. Because other information is also coming Julie’s way, but because it doesn’t fit with her upset and angry state, she’s rejecting it without realising it:

She’s forgotten that he warned her he hadn’t seen his college buddies for ten years and that he might get swept up in greeting people when he first arrived. Mark has glanced her way a number of times, but she’s ignored him, too annoyed with him to catch his eye and smile. And when he tried to bring her a drink she refused it, saying he ought to know she didn’t like it and then got crosser with him for not remembering her preferences, feeding into her anger further.

This blinkered state is called a refractory state and it can last from a few seconds to much, much longer. Its purpose is to allow us to focus on the problem in hand when there’s trouble, but sometimes, when linked to an emotion that’s not a reaction to immediate danger, it can cause more problems than it solves!

For a writer there are two big benefits in understanding and utilising this emotional refractory state:

1. It allows us to remember there really are two sides to every story, and that when both parties are ramped up and feeling emotional, there can be two wildly differing versions of events, which both people believe passionately are the truth. Great for creating believable and long-lasting conflict. In order to get your characters to see each other clearly, you’re going to have to push them out of that emotional comfort zone and start to see new things – especially the other character – in a new light.

2. If you ever want one of your characters to do or say something rash, to make a seemingly uncharacteristic decision or to react in a way that is illogical or emotionally out of proportion to what is going on, then make sure you’ve triggered some strong emotion in them – use this refractory period to your advantage! We’ve all experienced these moments of emotional blindness, where we just can't seem to think straight and do or say things we regret afterwards, and while we may not all know the science behind them, it will feel authentic to readers if you time these sorts of scenes right and motivate your characters well.

For example, Julie from the example above seems a bit high-maintenance at the moment, doesn’t she? But what if she’s felt like the wallflower her whole life? What if she thinks Mark is much better looking than her, that she doesn’t really deserve him and that one day he’ll wake up, realise it too, and dump her? Then we’ll understand that her anger is rooted in fear and lack of self-confidence, and a party full of popular attractive people where she feels she doesn’t fit in is going to push all her emotional buttons. While we still won’t think she’s being fair to Mark, we’ll understand it, which is the important thing when it comes to keeping readers engaged with our characters.

So next time you need an explosive scene, wind your characters up and let them put their blinkers on so they can have a "what did I just do!?" moment. It's so much fun.

 A little bit more on high emotional states and how to trigger them using your character’s backstory next month…

Fiona's latest book, The Guy To Be Seen With, is part of Harlequin's brand new line, KISS, and is out now. 

London's most eligible guy-finally snared?  

Who can forget gorgeous adventurer Daniel Bradford? Especially after this commitment-phobe's on-air rejection of his girlfriend's marriage proposal sparked a scandal! But some people love a challenge. With Daniel suddenly back on the market, all of London's single ladies are on the lookout. Yet he's shown no inclination to get caught by anyone...until now.

So just who is special enough to catch his attention? Our sources reveal she's strong-willed blonde bombshell Chloe Michaels, orchid specialist and Daniel's new colleague. And rumor has it that with this tough cookie, London's very own Indiana Jones is in for the-romantic-adventure of a lifetime!

Destination Life : : Anne McAllister

I just got home from a family reunion.

We used to have these sorts of things on the 4th of July when I was a kid because my grandfather’s birthday was July 4th,and it was always a good time to get everyone together.  At that time I was usually the second youngest in the crowd unless my stepdad’s youngest brother was there with his much littler kids.  Now I get to be the grandma!

I enjoyed those reunions a lot, but they were one day events – an afternoon of games like croquet and badminton and touch football in my grandparents’ big yard, followed by a barbecue, followed as soon as it got dark by the fireworks my uncle would bring and which he and my cousin would set off, accompanied by my aunt calling out every few minutes, “Steven!  Be careful, Steven!  You’re going to burn your fingers/hands/arms/face/eyes, Steven!”

He never did.  We were always glad, but we always waited for the warnings. It wouldn’t have been the same without the sound track!

I remember them fondly, those days.  But after my grandparents moved to a second floor apartment, we stopped having the yearly events.  My parents never had them.  If I’d asked why, they’d have said, “Well, you moved away.” And they would have been right.

When my kids were growing up we were more than halfway across the country from my folks and almost halfway across the country in the other direction from my in-laws.

So – no family reunions.

Then my kids grew up and moved away and started getting married, and began living at great distances from each other. They managed to get together at weddings. But then we ran out of weddings – and it turned into seven years since they had all been in the same place at the same time.  There were also a considerable number of grandchildren who had never met each other and uncles and aunts who had never met their nieces and nephews.

Something had to be done.

So this year we did it.  We planned a family reunion of our own.

We decided to find a place that either everyone could drive to (a couple of days’ trip in some cases) or a single airplane flight with no connections necessary unless so desired.  That way,  we figured, it was unlikely that anyone would spent the entire reunion in an airport miles from where they wanted to be.

We picked Minneapolis-St Paul as our hub – and started looking for places within a couple of hours of that airport.  It met all the criteria. And we wanted a family friendly place on a lake.  Minnesota has lots of them.

We found one that seemed likely to work for us – and we went a week ago Sunday. We spent five days together --- twenty of us. The only one missing was our eldest grandson who is playing baseball on the Outer Banks of North Carolina this summer.  It was lovely.

Lots of kayaking and canoeing and swimming.  Lots of successful fishing – including several large-mouth bass and, for an excited 4 year old, a memorable catfish.  S’mores (though we’ve discovered most of us want the marshmallows on the side. Is it genetic, I wonder?) and brats and birthday cake for the two birthdays celebrated this past week.  Hundreds (literally) of games of Chinese Checkers.  Lots of Uno and Taboo.  One marathon game of chess that must’ve starred Henry VIII as the king because he kept getting new queens as the old ones bit the dust.

The cousins bonded.  The siblings were very happy to see each other and meet their nieces and nephews.  A good enough time was had by all that we are thinking that, in three years time, we might do it again – out in Montana next time. 

It’s probably going to be the highlight of my summer.  Very likely it will be the highlight of the year.  It felt just a little bit like when I write a series of books and people from the old books turn up in the new ones.  Only better.

Anne is working on another in her series she calls Beware of Greeks, this one about the youngest  -- and most difficult – Antonides son, Lukas.  He’s already screwed this book up twice.  She’s hoping he gets his act together the third time around and decides which woman he really loves – and then convinces her that she loves him.  It’s the hardest thing both she and Lukas have ever done.

Male on Monday :: Superman!

The best thing about Monday? The Pink Heart Society editor Jenna Bayley-Burke is sure it's the mancandy on Male on Monday. Yep, she's positive.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's every woman's fantasy! One part beta, one part alpha, and able to take you around the world without using up your frequent flyer miles.

Men want to be superman. They do, even if they won't admit it. They dream of rescuing the damsel, destroying evil, and flying. I mean, the dude can fly.

Most of the time, he's Clark Kent, toiling away at his job and pining for the hottest chick in the office. He is everyman. And then, boom! All the women want  him, he gets to smackdown the bad guy, and he can ice down a six-pack with his eyes!

It seems every generation has their own Superman. The comic book wonder began in the 1930s, allowing fans to picture themselves as the dynamic alien (he's totally an alien, peeps). Then came Kirk Alyn who debuted those amazingly high-waisted underpants on the outside. Must have been hot in the 1940s.

George Reeves donned the briefs for the 1950s TV show. Superman made it to Broadway in the 1960s. Christopher Reeve built the Superman brand in the 70s and 80s.

Dean Cain was the Superman of my generation, spending the 90s in TV's Lois & Clark. Really, those skinny 90210 boys had no chance against an actual superhero. Tom Welling showed us Superman's youth in a decade of Smallville episodes.


Brandon Routh starred in Superman Returns in 2006. The movie did well critically, but not as well as hoped at the box office, so the sequel was scrapped. Maybe because we were all watching Tom Welling and couldn't fathom two Superman's at once?

Now we have the breathtaking Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel. It's the same character, but in a completely different incarnation. The briefs are gone, the muscle is real, and Clark is less goofy. More of a loner by choice instead of social ineptitude. Plus, Henry Cavill.

Anyone else notice how our superhero's are all British right now? Batman (Bale), Spiderman (Garfield), & Superman (Cavill). Very interesting...


Jenna Bayley-Burke's latest, Caribbean Casanova (Under the Caribbean Sun) jets you to the Caribbean for a scorching hot holiday inspired by drooling over pictures of Joe Manganiello -- does he have a brother? Keep up with Jenna on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook & her blog.

Pets and Their Authors - Kate Walker and Charlie

Lady and the Tramp – or The Princess and the Scamp

  Aka if one Maine Coon is fun - two are even better.

It was all Flora’s fault. If you read my post on Pets and Their Authors last month, you’ll know that Flora came into my life when I had cat shaped spaces in my world and she more than filled those. But after she had been with us for a year or so, there were some more losses – and big cat, big personality as she is, she couldn’t quite fill the holes left by Dylan and The Cat – Sir Sidney, A Cat of Superior Breeding.

Besides, once we had realised how much fun it is to live with one Maine Coon, we couldn’t help but think there would be twice as much fun with two. Actually, it’s more than twice the fun - but then these are twice the size of ordinary cats. We hadn’t quite decided that we wanted a second Tail with A Cat Attached but one day I noticed the a local breeder had kittens – and one of them was a red and white boy, whose litter name was Rumpuss.

If you read the first instalment of my Pets posts, I mention The Cat, the first one who came into my
married life. He was special (aren’t they all) and he was a red and white boy called Rumpuss (OK – he was actually called Alexander JB Hopkins Rumpusscat because my husband tried to put the names of all his heroes into one cat name.) Up until 2011 we had always had a red and white cat but currently we were lacking in the red and white department – until we saw this Rumpuss. A couple of phone calls later and we were out kitten visiting and when a small bundle of red and white fur came out of its bed to greet us we knew we’d been chosen. The empty red and white space had been filled.
And another special Christmas Present came into my life.

We couldn’t keep the name Rumpuss though – that had been for one cat only so, because of the story of Flora Macdonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie, this kitten became Charlie to match with Flora. Charlie Rumpusscat when he gets his full name – or Chaz as Anne McAllister calls him. He recognises her voice and that name – he’s ‘talked’ with her on Facetime so they know each other quite well. He wasn’t too sure about the two big dogs in the background, but as they were thousands of miles away, he coped.

Charlie is a coper. He takes things in his stride and doesn’t let too much bother him. He knows where his values lie – and that’s usually in his stomach. On the day I went to fetch him home, he kept me waiting for ages as he ploughed his way through a bowl of crunchies that had just been filled up. He might have been going to his forever home, but he wasn’t too sure where his next meal was coming from – so he stoked up while he could.

He’s continued to stoke up whenever he possibly can. You see, Charlie is  a cat who has priorities. And his priorities are  perfectly in order:
1. Food
2. Food

3. More food
4. Sleeping off food
5. Treats

That's probably why he's reached the size he has - and he's still not yet 3.   

He thinks he rules the house - he checks all the books we read to make sure they're good reading material. He supervises any work being done in the house or the  garden. When we had  the kitchen renovated and an extension built, the builders very soon learned that Charlie was the Clerk of Works

and he would check everything they'd done at every stage of the process.  He even checked out the roof - when there wasn't actually any roof there, just huge plastic sheets and he ended up dangling from the rafters.

He likes climbing - the first month he was with us,  he was stunned to find that we had provided him with his own personal indoor tree just to climb on. It was even better when we decorated  the tree with baubles and stars.  Christmas has always been his favourite time of the year. Trees. A coal fire.

And of course Food.

He's considered hunting for his own food, but really, although it's rather fun it's also a
lot of effort. Those fluttery things always seem to get away and  he can't quite catch up with them. Though he has tried the 'sneak up on 'em' technique of hiding on the birdtable and waiting . . . The trouble is that the birds do tend to see him coming!


Before we can go to bed, Charlie has to check out the sleeping accomodations -   see above - and once we are in bed he has to come and settle us in, kneading the bedding with his paws,  'grooming'  our hands, and finally settling on my feet so that I  am safely anchored for the night.

Charlie is the more sociable of the two cats. He has a daily route that he follows  - going out to visit neighbours  all around the area. He manages to snaffle a few treats from almost  every house he visits and in return he lets them admire him and tell him  how handsome he is.   Three houses away from us live the family who look after him and feed him when we are away. He knows exactly where they live - and he knows the best window to knock on to get their attention. So if we are ever late back home and for some reason tea has to be delayed, Charlie doesn't worry. He just goes down the road and knocks on the window to remind them that he's been waiting a while and it was time food was served.

Like I said. A cat who has his priorities.

He is also a cat with responsibilities.  In the past the great Sid - A Cat of Superior Breeding - was al

ways the one who carried out the duty of picking the winners of any prizes I was giving away on my web site. Since Sir Sidney passed over the rainbow bridge, Charlie has taken on those duties  of choosing all the winners.  I put out all the names on pieces of paper, each with a cat treat on the top - and the one that Charlie eats first is the winner. So now you know  who to bribe when you want to be in with a chance of winning - and you know how to bribe him.

Food.

So that's Charlie - the Scamp to Flora's Princess - or, as  she would say I'm sure - the Tramp the Her Lady.   Two Maine Coons are definitely  better than one.  I wouldn't be without them.  I have to say that - they really are very big cats . . .!

And three?   Hmmm . . . never say never!

Charlie may be a prince among cats but Kate’s  royal hero is Alexei Sarova, that black sheep prince who has to face up to a new and unexpected destiny with his heroine Honoria Escalona (Ria) as the woman he wants as his queen.

A kingdom's safety...
Betrayed by those she loves, Honoria Escalona must now face the only man capable of bringing stability to the Mediterranean kingdom of Mecjoria. A cold, hard man who once called her his friend... Alexei Sarova-the true King of Mecjoria.
In exchange for her happiness

Butt Alexei's tortuous past has changed him into someone she hardly knows. He blames Ria's family
A Throne For the Taking will be published in the Royal and Ruthless miniseries in both Harlequin Presents and Mills & Boon Modern in June.

Other up to date news and details of all Kate’s books can be found on her web site and in her blog.

Write Away with Jeannie Watt

CHARACTER DO'S AND DON'T'S

Over the next several Write Away posts, Pink Heart Society Editor Jeannie Watt will talk about the DO’s and DON’T’s of creating believable characters.

Part 2 MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS STAND OUT

We've all encountered certain character types over and over again in our reading adventures.  There’s the alpha male billionaire who refuses to allow himself to become emotionally involved; the witchy other woman who plots against the heroine; the distant mother; the stoic cowboy; the shy academic; the wounded warrior; etc, etc.

Why do we see these same character types over and over again? One reason is that stereotypes can be easy to write—open document, insert crabby mother-in-law—however, I believe that big reason for the proliferation of certain character types is that readers like them.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that as much as the reader may seek out character types they enjoy, they don’t want the exact same wounded warrior in each and every story they read. That gets monotonous and that’s where the dreaded word “stereotype” comes in.

What’s an author to do? I have an easy answer that’s not necessarily easy to execute—

DO make your stock character unique in some way.

Okay, so I have a stoic cowboy, dealing with personal pain and trying to save his ranch—very much like many other stoic cowboys. How do I make him unique? I know—he juggles. On horseback. It calms his nerves.

Uh…yeah.

   

This brings me to my first DON’T…

DON’T make your character unique in an over the top/hard to believe way unless it reflects the character’s personality.

A cowboy might juggle in public, but if he did, he’s probably not a stoic cowboy who keeps everything inside, but rather a laid back, easy going cowboy.  Or a show off.  If one of my stoic cowboys juggled, he’d do it in the privacy of the bunkhouse. It is an excellent stress reliever.

Next…DON’T make your characters unique in a superficial way.

Have you ever read a book, or watched a movie or TV show where you can tell that the writer was trying too hard to make the characters unique, and it just didn't work? Nine times out of ten, that’s because the unique quality is superficial—something slapped on the character to make them stand out.  It’s not a reflection of something in their character. So the juggling cowboy does stand out, but if juggling doesn’t reflect something in his character, then it’s an uncomfortable (for the reader and the cowboy) mantle the author has forced him to wear so that he’s different.

DO think about your character and find something that reflects their inner self to make them unique.

 

A classic is the repressed librarian/teacher who’s struggling to break free. She’s too shy to do anything in public, so instead she wears risqué underwear. This comes from her character and is believable—but the librarian in lacy underwear has been done a time or two. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done again, but perhaps there’s another way of expressing private rebellion. Maybe she indulges in a secret hobby. Maybe she takes on a different persona in online chat groups. Maybe she’s a masked superhero…although that has been done a time or two, too.

Lastly…DO think about opposites when assigning unique characteristics to your characters.

You’d expect a cowboy to be able to handle just about any kind of tough outdoor situation. But what if he’s afraid of snakes?

You’d expect the shy librarian to be afraid of snakes. What if she’s fascinated by them, has studied them, and rescues our cowboy from a snake?

What if our librarian is a deadly shot and the cowboy doesn’t like guns because of something that once happened to him or a loved one?

These scenarios are the opposite of what we would expect to happen, but they aren’t over the top or superficial.  They make the character memorable and different in a meaningful way. Mission accomplished.

For Part 1 of Character Do's and Don't's--Motivation--click here.

Harlequin Superromance author Jeannie Watt lives in rural Nevada and writes fast-paced, character driven stories set in the western United States.   Her latest book Once A Champion is out in June. 

Tales of An Unpublished Author: How Deep is Your Cast?

 AKA, “I’m really, really sorry, Mr. Flanigan, but I had to replace you.”

I’ll be honest, I come up with some crazy ways to work my stories -- hence my references to 'bizarro' writing -- and I’m wondering if I’m going a little overboard with this one. So, I’m asking for some input.

And I’ll start with what I’ll call the thesis question: Would you cast your character with someone who couldn’t really ‘seal the deal’ per se? And I’m not talking any sexual situations. I’m talking something that might be out of character for that actor or person.

When I first started writing, I didn’t believe in having a picture of someone to represent my characters. I had an idea of what they looked like in my head, but I didn’t go any further than that. When I started using pictures I had a hard making the connection between my story and the actor. 

And then I came up with a story where I knew the actors who represented them before I’d even written one word.  I watched them on stage and – boom – the story hit me. Within a few months, I had the whole story playing in my mind. A story that could potentially span three novels.

And the actors fit so well with my story that I was doing global searches regularly to replace the actor's first name with the character name I’d chosen.  Not because I used their real names but because I could see them playing these characters so well, I'd slip in their real name by accident. (I know, crazy, but it worked.) 

Is there such a thing as a perfect cast for a story? Or is Abbi just on the edge of insanity? (Trust me, if you lived my last two years, you'd wonder if insanity was living somewhere near you, too.) 

And then I asked one of my characters to do something I wasn’t sure fit the person I’d chosen to portray him. I wasn’t thinking: “Could this actor do this in real life?” I was wondering if he had the range as an actor to do what needed to be done in my story. 

Think about it: Does Jerry Seinfeld have the range to play an action hero? I don’t think so. I don’t think he could pull it off.

I even looked back at his acting resume -- movies, TV shows, etc. -- and I couldn't find a role to justify what I needed. So, I had to recast one of my story characters.

I've taken acting classes and I've done a screen test or two so I'm wondering if this impacts my view of casting characters for a novel. 

We talk about deep POV all the time. Is there such a thing as deep casting?

How deep do you cast your characters? 

Abbi :-)

Abbi is still on Twitter -- @abbi_wilder -- because she couldn't give it up for 2013. Her first story, The Baby Whisperer, will appear in The Mammoth Book of ER Romance to be published later this year. www.abbiwilder.com -- www.nursesinlit.com

The Learning Curve of the New Author

A Month of Surprises & Opportunities

It’s hard to believe this is my sixth installment of the New Author segment. The halfway point. Where does

the time go? And come December does that mean I’m no longer new??? Oh the crazy questions that meander through this writer’s grey matter. ;-)

Anyway, can you believe it? In less than a month, it’ll be my official release of my debut, RANCHER TO THE RESCUE. :-)

Let me tell you the newness and firsts have not faded away…AT ALL. My email is constantly full of surprises from generous offers from some very kind people…to amazing news…

One awesome email I got this month was to notify me the proposal of my current WIP, you might have heard me refer to it as Mr. GQ and the hammer-wielding heroine, has been accepted and gone to contract. So I am back on deadline. *bounces with joy* I love writing for Harlequin Romance. I’ve said it before and I truly mean it, “It’s a lifetime dream come true.”

And thanks to Wendy S. Marcus, who kindly tweeted me to let me know that RANCHER TO THE RESCUE hit the Harlequin Bestseller List its first week out. I was surprised and deeply touched. A BIG, HUGE thank you to those readers who bought a copy. I really hope you enjoy it.

But the surprises didn’t stop there. I also learned of my first foreign sale. Squee! SNOWBOUND WITH THE SOLDIER will be appearing in India in October.

*big happy sigh* It certainly has been an amazing month.

This past month has also lent itself to new opportunities. I know as writers, we want to do the writing and let the promo/marketing/exposure take care of itself. But I can tell you as much as work as the marketing side of writing is, it’s also rewarding.

I have met so many wonderful people these past several months. And they are so kind and willing to help this newbie as I learn what it is I should be doing. ;-)

Opportunities are all around, for both published and unpublished. You just have to keep your eyes open. And when they present themselves, take a deep breath and jump. I know there’s that little voice in your head that has all sorts of reason not to take on one more responsibility, but what fun is there in playing it safe?

And the best part is that these opportunities seem to lend themselves to other great opportunities. It has been amazing. Most days I don’t know what to expect.

Such as today, I’d contacted someone from a group I’m in about a review. She was quite willing to read my debut. I was thrilled! Today I heard back from her as she’d told some other women in her group about my debut and now they all want to read and review it. I was deeply touched that they all wanted to check out my debut and set aside time from their lives in order to read my book. But none of that would have happened if I hadn’t kept my eyes open and saw that this person was open to books like I write and contacted her. So one review grew into four reviews.

Opportunities are like crayons, they come in all colors and sizes. You just have to be open to them and be willing to hold your breath and jump. Not always easy feat for an introvert like myself, but I’m learning to come out of my shell more.

Now it’s your turn, do you have any questions? Any Behind-The-Book things you’ve been wondering about? I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Jennifer Faye’s debut, RANCHER TO THE RESCUE, is available NOW at Harlequin.com. Or it’s up for Pre-order at Amazon & B&N. She’d love to hear from you via Twitter, her website, or Facebook.