NaNoWriMo Post-Mortem

NaNoWriMo Post-Mortem

For this year’s NaNoWriMo, I decided to go a different route. Instead of continuing Steam Palace, I decided to use a concept that I had been toying with for years. I wanted to focus on the story of this brilliant detective who’s completely incapacitated, but it turned into something more akin to my first couple NaNo stories, the 30 Days series. More action than mystery, more plot than characters.

First, the facts:
Final Title: Dead Air: An Archie Magnuson Mystery
56,937 words, my lowest output in 4 NaNo’s, but still a “winner.”
Actual days writing: 25
2,200 words/day, compared to something like 3,200 words/day last year
47 “Scenes”

My goal was lower this year. I was aiming for 60K, so I timed my book accordingly. My 80K first draft last year swelled to 120K by the time I finished 3 revisions. So using the same math, my 56K book may wind up around 84K, not a bad size.

But overall, I’m just not satisfied. I think I know some of the main issues that I fought against this year: Note that most of this stuff I was aware of while I was writing, but I just turned off that damned inner editor and went with it.

• Not enough time spent planning/plotting. By the time I hit Act IV (of five), I was really lost. Usually this is the most fun part of the book to write, but for me it was a death march. I just plodded forward, forcing events instead of letting them happen.
• Not taking it seriously. Last year I knew I was writing a novel to publish. This year I was “experimenting” with a new genre. I don’t really think I loved writing Mystery. It’s a lot of work, a lot of detail, and pantsing this kind of thing just doesn’t work. I think I can make this work, but not under these constraints.
• Falling in love with my characters. I have a tendency to fall in love with certain types of characters (mostly female) and then they start to take over the story because I just want to write about them and give them larger roles than they probably deserve.
• Lack of Villainy. This problem plagues me. My villains just aren’t bad enough. Yeah he’s a bastard but he doesn’t really do that much bad stuff. I want to create someone the reader wants to throttle, not just be annoyed with.
• Distractions. Going to a 3-day con in the middle of NaNo was a bad idea (for NaNo…made a few industry contacts for Steam Palace, might post about it). Also, you know what really sucks? Getting sick. I picked up some kind of crud at the con and I’ve been sick ever since. It’s incredibly hard to write when you just want to go back to bed.
• Why? That’s really basic. I never really answered this. Why did anyone do anything they did aside from me wanting them to? What were their motivations? Backstories? And why should the reader care about any of it?
• Telling. Well, I’d been in full edit mode for a year, so switching back is hard. It took almost 3 days to just drop the editorial voice inside my head and just write. The problem with this is that so much crap comes out that it’s almost not worth it. Out of all the issues listed above, this is the one that really kills me. This is why if I do a revision, it will be a complete rewrite, just like I did with Steam Palace. Not a single line will remain. And it will take me longer than 25 days.

I’m not sure going forward that NaNoWriMo is the best way to draft a novel. Especially this year when I couldn’t devote as much time as I’d like to plotting and even writing it. But I guess so far I’ve only highlighted the negatives, so here are some positive things:

• I won! ‘Nuff said. Gimme my damn badge!
• I have a full draft of a new novel in a new genre.
• I took a risk. I’m not sure it will pay off in this case, but it’s something.
• Many good characters/potentially good characters.
• A couple interesting plot twists
• Potentially compelling conflicts.
• Lots of series potential. It only takes one book to sell a series.

So I guess I’m giving myself a mixed grade this year. So what will I do from here? Probably shelve it. I could also do a quick 1-2 week edit and throw it up on some sites to get feedback. But right now I really need to work on selling Steam Palace. I also have a few deadlines for conference submissions.

I hope everyone had a good NaNoWriMo, see you next year!

My NaNoWriMo Cover

My NaNoWriMo Cover

Part of the fun of NaNoWriMo is imagining what your cover would like like. Heck, what’s the title of your story? I’ve gone through a few variations so far such as “The Bed Detective” and “Big Woman Detective”. There’s a phrase that keeps coming up in my story. “Dead Air.” I ran it through Lulu’s Title Scorer and it earned a whopping 77% likelihood of being a best-seller. (Steam Palace ranked like 33%. D’ooh!).

After today I’m taking a brief hiatus from NaNo to participate in SteamCon. I really hope I have a couple minutes of downtime to write maybe a couple hundred words here and there, but I’m not planning on it. I’m at 39K today and I’ll be well over 40K by lunch. Then on Monday it’s the race to the finish, my goal being 60-65K.

Now, without further ado, let me present the cover of my NaNoWriMo 2010 book Dead Air:

I’m hoping that looks a bit ominous and not serene. I played with the image to wash out the colors even more and make it really drab. The image had absolutely nothing to do with the story but it’s more about the mood.

NaNoWriMo Halfway Report

NaNoWriMo Halfway Report

Well, so far, so good. I’m sitting here at the halfway point of with 32K words, my target being ~60K words. Unfortunately, my four “days off” are coming soon. I’m going to be at Steamcon Fri, Sat, and Sunday this week, and next week I traditionally take T-day off (but make up for it on Black Friday in an all-day writing spree). My pace is well under last year, especially considering that my wife wrecked her car last November and I lost a lot of time due to that…and I still finished 5 days early. This year my target is lower, and I’ve been working on a couple other things.

So storywise, it’s interesting. I’m writing a completely contemporary mystery, no Sci-Fi, no secret agents, just everyday people. Okay, there’s a mad scientist. D’ohh! Well, I never worked a good mad scientist into Steam Palace, so I guess some of that rubbed off. But still, it’s not science fiction, I promise.

I’ve stuck fairly well to the storyline. There have been a few characters that I created who I’ve never used, and a few that are creeping out of nowhere to take prominent roles. The plot has more holes than a gun range target, and it’s not all that close to what I started with, but I kind of expected that.

Here’s the thing to remember as you draft. Don’t let your plot run the story. Characters should always drive it. Emotion. Fear. Anger. Love. Week 2 is always the hardest week, because once you’ve introduced the characters and the world, then what? I had in mind a scene where my detective and the damsel in distress are in a car and the car flies off the road into a lake where they almost die. That was my goal. But that was plot. I had to know why they were in that car, why no one else was in it, and where they were going.  (I had a couple of near-drowning scenes in the first draft of Steam Palace that didn’t make it into the second…again when I have ideas I’m determined to use them).

So with that scene in mind, I started creating complications. Intrigue. Questions. Characters who acted unexpectedly. Relationships develop. When I finally hit that critical scene, now the whole rest of the story is unfolding. I now a vision of the final climactic scene, the “reveal” as it were. That scene will be the driving force for the next 2 weeks. That’s the make-or-break part of the book. That’s when my hero will be tested and he’ll know once and for all who his true friends are, and whether he has what it takes to be a true detective.

The other thing was that whenever I got stuck, I just think of another scene to write, something where two characters interact in some way.  I don’t know how, but it just sort of works. This is why you have to just rely on your characters. Give them strong goals and motivations, and let them do their own thing, even if it takes your story somewhere else. That’s the beauty of NaNoWriMo, you never know what you’re going to get.

You’re over the hump, and it’s all downhill from here!

To Climb the NaNoWriMo Mountain

To Climb the NaNoWriMo Mountain

Okay. I know a lot of you are heads-down in the midst of NaNoWriMo. Others have decided to pass. Either way is fine with me. Apparently, it’s not fine with everyone.

Laura Miller, senior “writer” at Salon.com (yeah, I meant the quotes), who admittedly “as someone who doesn’t write novels” has this to say among other things:

…far more money can be made out of people who want to write novels than out of people who want to read them.

…why not direct more attention, more pep talks, more nonprofit booster groups, more benefit galas and more huzzahs to readers? [emphasis mine]

But even if every one of these 30-day novelists prudently slipped his or her manuscript into a drawer, all the time, energy and resources that go into the enterprise strike me as misplaced.

(read it all here)

Okay, first point…writers are poor. They aren’t the world’s greatest demographic. I’m pretty sure writers don’t target other writers for their books. (just critique ;)

Second point…you mean like book tours, speaking engagements, posters in supermarkets, which all generally cost more than the book takes in? Okay, quick fact check. I did a local search on Meetup.com for local writing clubs. It found 43. Now for local reading clubs. 126. Look! 3 times as many results! Hey, let’s check Google. Writing Club: 46M. Book Club: 199M. Also…Google has a whole frickin’ app called “Books.” Where’s the Google writing app? (Oh yeah, Docs…but it’s blank until you write something).

Lastly…“misplaced”?? WTF? Why do anything then? Why plant a garden if it dies in the fall? Why finish a jigsaw puzzle if you just break it up and put it back? Why have kids if they just grow up and have their own families? Why breathe in if you’re going to breathe it out again?

People like Laura Miller don’t “get it.” They don’t have the spark of creativity, so they can’t appreciate it in others. Why build crap? Why write 50,000+ words that you will just throw away? What if Picasso stopped after his first crappy painting? What if Mozart stopped after his first off-key note? Yeah, are all 170,000 participants in NaNoWriMo the next Mark Twain? No. But…yes. They are. They are the seeds of something greater, that when cultivated may grow into a story for the ages. Sure, maybe you wrote 50,000 words of crap, and tossed it away, deleted the file, whatever. But you are not the same person you were before. You’ve changed. You’ve learned. The next 50,000 will be better. The next 50,000 better still.

A couple years ago I spent all my free time training for a summit climb of Mount Rainier. Every weekend was a massive hike. Every day another workout. For 8 months. And then, when all was said and done, I didn’t make it all the way to the top due to altitude sickness. Was all that time wasted? Was the money I spent on gear and training and the expedition misplaced? What do I have to show for it? Well…I have nothing. BUT. I climbed to 11,000 feet. That’s 11,000 feet more than most people have ever climbed. Will my NaNoWriMo novels ever be published? Or will they fall short? Am I just wasting my time, pretending that I am something I’m not? Are we all just wasting our time?

Here’s the thing. No one writes because they are forced to. People write because they’re driven to write, to say the things that no one else can. Here’s one last thing Laura Miller said, and it’s something you should all think about:

Frankly, there are already more than enough novels out there

Maybe. But there’s a problem. You see, there’s one book missing. One book that really connects with you on a personal level, one book that changes things, one book that tells the perfect story.

Yours. And you’re the only one who can write it.

Now get writing!

See my Red Dress Guest Post!

See my Red Dress Guest Post!

I have a guest post up on the red dress club!
Everything you need to know about NaNoWriMo!

Go check it out!

“the red dress club” is a site for women writers…which I am not but I kinda know the hostess a little bit (okay she’s my sister). But it’s an awesome site. Check it out!

NaNoWriMo ‘10 Starts in 1 Week!

NaNoWriMo ‘10 Starts in 1 Week!

And I got nothing. Well, I do have something. But I don’t yet have a plot. I have a bunch of characters, I have a crime or two, I have a couple scene ideas. But beyond that…nothing. Last year at this time I was sitting around just trying to think of anything I was missing. This time around I’m grasping for straws.

Okay, enough of the weak metaphors. There’s no reason to panic. At heart I’m a pantser, so no big deal. Sure, I’ve never written a Mystery before. And now that I’m doing it, I’m finding it incredibly complicated. Clues, evidence, leads, motives, means, it all has to be non-obvious and obvious at the same time. Every line of the story has to be about the Mystery. But I have all these great ideas about scenes that have nothing to do with solving the crime(s). And not many about pursuing the bad guys.

I’ve been reading James Frey’s How to Write a Damn Good Mystery. It’s helpful and daunting at the same time. Frey is a proponent of a “Five Act” structure dealing with the phases of solving crimes. Here it is for those who are interested:

1. Accepting the Mission. The Hero/Detective is made aware of the crime and thinks about working it.
2. Tests up to Ordeal. The Hero/Detective starts investigating, finding allies and enemies, and eventually is faces with a Crisis.
3. Solves the Crime. After passing the Ordeal, the Hero/Detective figures out “whodunit” and goes after them, trying to prove it.
4. Trapping the Criminal. The Hero/Detective faces the Criminal and finds a way to expose and/or defeat him.
5. Standard Dénouement. The Hero/Detective lives happily ever after and the Criminal doesn’t.

Well, I kinda have a little bit of Acts I and II laid out. The rest is completely up in the air. I have ~6 days 12 hours to figure it out. Also, according to Frey, there this kind of “Act 0” which is the story of the villain, the crime, the victim, and everything that happens outside of the scope of the book. “The plot behind the plot” is what I think he calls it. What I have so far is 4 actual murders, 2 attempted murders, and some other crimes as well. Woot!

So, how is your NaNoWriMo planning going?

WriMo SchmiMo

WriMo SchmiMo

Okay, I’m sitting on the horns of a dilemma.

Remember about 6 weeks ago I made an announcement that I would write a sequel to Steam Palace for NaNoWriMo? Problem is that I have this other idea that’s been festering in my head for a long time. It’s a detective story. Not Steampunk, not Sci-Fi, future, past, or anything. Just a contemporary mainstream murder Mystery in a local setting. (Okay, there will be high-techy stuff in there…come on).  Have I ever written a mystery? No. Not even a short, not even a flash. Do I read a lot of mysteries? No. I do watch them on TV…does that count?

So why this story? Why am I considering this crazy idea? I’m not going to talk about the specifics of the concept here, at least not until after NaNo. Suffice it to say that it’s a mother-son sleuthing duo, told from the son’s POV. Here is my reasoning:

1. Steam Palace 2 (SP2), from everything I’ve worked on so far, is extremely complicated. Sophia meets her eviler twin. That’s going to take some doing. Not only that, but I want to do it “right”, meaning that I want to focus more on quality during the first draft, and hopefully reduce the editing load. More organized, planned, thought-through, etc.
2. I want to build some more writing “chops” before I start SP2. I feel I am still missing some core writing skills, mostly in the area of characterization and POV.
3. Why write SP2 before SP1 is sold/contracted? Yes, it may be easier to sign a contract with at least a first draft of SP2 completed, but maybe I’m carting before horsing. I think it’s of minimal benefit.
4. I am intrigued the idea of crafting a short novel, 60K or so, and self-publishing it. If there’s success then maybe I follow with a full-length version I can try to go to publishers with. Or it might help sell SP1.
5. I might be good at writing mysteries. I don’t know. But I feel the need to take a “break” from F/SF for a month. And absolutely no one in my critique groups writes them…so maybe there’s a need. (Or I’m just misguided). Whether it’s a success or not, I think exploring the mystery genre and tropes may help me in other genres.
6. I really love the concept. I think I have some unique characters. The problem I have is creating a compelling crime with clues etc. But that’s what the next 2 weeks are for. I’ve defined all the main character-character conflicts, so now it’s more about the nitty-gritty details. I want to keep it simple and the word count low.

So maybe those reasons are wonky. I have some great thoughts for SP2, but I don’t think I’ll be ready to draft it quite so soon, it needs a lot more thought. And after NaNo, I’m also going to turn my attention to another neglected project, The Immortals, and try to figure out what to do with it. Meanwhile I am still working on marketing SP1, more about that in an upcoming post.

So as of now I am strongly leaning towards the mystery concept. This should be fun.

Plots and Characters and Settings, Oh My!

Plots and Characters and Settings, Oh My!

So, you have some general ideas for characters. Heroes, Villains, Allies, Mentors, etc. You know where and when the story takes place. You have some idea about the general flow of the story. So what is the next step?

Two of the hardest pieces of the story to create are the beginning and the ending. Right after that comes “the saggy middle”. But I’m speaking more specifically about the very beginning and endings. 

Beginnings

One piece of advice I’ve heard is “start the story as late as possible.” This means start your story the moment your character’s life changes irrevocably. Avoid long life stories or explanations of who they are and how they got there. In Steam Palace, the story starts when Sophia loses her job and Thomas loses use of one leg (in separate incidents). But are life-changing events, but note that they are not “The Event” that sets them upon their journey of discovery. People are tempted to start their stories right off with the “Inciting Incident” or “The Call to Adventure.”  The thing is that you need to establish your character’s core problems and/or goals before you give them their mission. In Steam Palace, Sophia faces a crisis: she’s lost her job and can no longer support her family. Thomas can no longer earn his commission as Sky Captain and is discharged. Their Calls come later when they are presented opportunities.

So you want to start off by giving your characters some fairly insurmountable or intractable problems. Show them struggling. Then shine the light of hope on them.

Endings

Think of your story as a thesis paper. If the first chapters establish the premise, the final chapters “prove” the thesis. Every chapter in between is a supporting argument. The main premise of Steam Palace is “Despite our differences, we are actually quite alike.” Sophia meets Viola, her polar opposite, but through a series of adventures, they learn that they share far more than they are different, and they learn to respect their differences. The ending is the final proof.

Also think about those original problems and goals. How were they finally surmounted or achieved? Do your characters laugh about it? And what was the cost? Sophia finally has what she wanted…but the cost was steep, almost intolerable. Thomas is whole again, but he also faced great challenges that tested him to his limits.

Saggy Middles

Ah. I tricked you. This is actually the hardest part. How do your characters get from Beginning to Ending? What is their journey? How do they do it? I hinted at it, but let me spell out a few things.

• Acquiring knowledge, skills, objects, allies, etc. Think of a video game where you have to achieve certain things to get to the next level. Perhaps half of your book will involve your Hero’s training. The rest is putting that training to use.
• Successes and Setbacks. Every win comes at a cost. Very little cost at first, extreme costs by the end. Think of stairs where each step is larger than the last. The stakes keep growing, as does the cost of failure. Keep making things harder.
• Fears. Your characters must conquer their fears…but first they must face them, again in increasing order of difficulty. First the fears may be simple. Leaving home, dealing with unfamiliar settings and people. Then the fears become more personal. But at some point, your character must face their worst fears. Death. Loss of loved ones. Cancer. The Extinction of Mankind.

So as you plan your story, start thinking about the journey. Think of all the crap you can put your character through. Test your thesis. Your Villains should hold a viewpoint that is in direct opposition. In Steam Palace, the Villains believe that people who are different are inferior and should be suppressed. The believe their way is the only way. They want to crush anyone who disagrees. This is why Sophia must challenge them.

I hope that helped. Now to figure out which story I’m actually going to write for NaNoWriMo…

Novel Design: Plot Structure

Novel Design: Plot Structure

With just 23 days before NaNoWriMo, you should have a nice outline of your story drawn out.

Oops. I got nothing. In fact, I’m working on two completely separate story ideas right now. But plots are coming…I hope.

Anyways, despite the “No plot? No problem.” mantra of NaNoWriMo, constructing the barest outline of a plot can help you immensely.  A roadmap of your novel provides scope and direction for your writing. Having the final outcome in mind allows you to focus on the journey.

Here are some popular methods for plot construction:

Heroes Journey. I’ve written a crapload of posts on this, please read at your leisure. To sum up, Heroes Journey is a 12-step program to construct a novel, based on mythical storytelling. It is perfect for almost any story that involves drama and action, where your Hero transforms from Billy Bob Joe Everyday to Mr. Super Dude, solves a case, falls in love, learns a lesson, or fights the Underworld.

Pros

• Based on thousands of years of storytelling tradition.
• Defines character types and general obstacles Hero must face.
• Almost every major motion picture is based on it.

Cons

• It’s not actually a plot, it’s just a collection of somewhat optional elements in a rough but non-binding order
• It is a little formulaic, makes everything sound like Star Wars or Avatar
• Specific genres have specific requirements which it doesn’t address (so research your specific genre to find those requirements)

The Snowflake Method. A very intuitive method that involves creating broad strokes and then filling in the details as you go. For instance, start with a one-line description of each chapter. Then a paragraph. Then a page. For each character, do the same. For each setting, etc.

Pros

• Gives an easy drill-down into your story
• Allows you to work at any level of detail
• “Pay as you go” writing. Makes the big details right so you don’t write sections that will be deleted.

Cons

• Once again, it’s not a plot. It’s a method.
• Commits you to the big picture
• Sometimes the devil is in the small details. Sometimes my best insights into my characters have come from the things they let slip in conversations or small acts.

X-Act Structure. Now we’re talking. 3, 5, 7 act structures are all out there. Also, there are books like “20 Master Plots” that literally explain every possible plot. Let’s face it, there are really no new ideas out there, everything that can be done has been done. But this is good news. This means that the “winning” plots have been identified and are ripe for the taking.

Pros

• Definitive framework to craft your story upon
• Identifies high and low points such as setbacks, breakthroughs, and ordeals and where they go in your story
• Proven structures that appeal to readers

Cons

• They don’t help you figure out what your story is about, just how it flows.
• It’s not a methodology, just a analysis.
• NaNoWriMo is more about exploration than conformation. Crafting a story is hard work; sometimes it’s better to just write it, then worry about structure during editing.

So I hope that left you more confused than when you started reading this. Personally, I use parts of all three methods. I start with Heroes Journey, writing a few paragraphs about each aspect. Then, using the Snowflake Method, I fill in the details until I have a list of potential scenes. I use 3-Act Structure to define the turning points in the story. Then I write it.

Here’s the other problem I’ve found. Recently in my critique groups, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend for writers to throw everything in their stories, every piece of description and characters they can think of. I’ve been calling it “detail diarrhea.” During the course of plotting and planning your story, you may come up with 2-10 times the number of great ideas more than you can use in the story, and then when you actually sit down and write it, double those figures again. Ideas happen.

My final piece of advice is to plot small. Heading into NaNoWriMo, plan for a story somewhat smaller than what you’d like. Perhaps fewer subplots, a reduced cast, not as many settings. Recently, I came up with a list of everything Sophia must achieve in Steam Palace:

Sophia must find a way to rescue Viola, restore Thomas’ honor, convince Ghost to join their cause, locate the mythical Sea Key, and fight off her country’s invaders before war claims the remnants of a once-proud kingdom.

That’s even an edited-down list, and it’s TOO MUCH. If I had that in my original planning document, I’d probably freak out. Give your character ONE GOAL to achieve during the course of the story, otherwise you' may dig yourself a huge hole that 200,000 words won’t fill.

Good luck!

Adventure Genre No-No’s

Adventure Genre No-No’s

I was inspired to write this post by my response to a post on the NaNoWriMo forum: What not to do in Adventure? Now these replies are a little tongue-in-cheek, but sometimes during critique I find my work evaluated with a literary eye instead of an Adventure eye, so here are some guidelines to consider when writing or reviewing adventure stories.

Things to Avoid When Writing Adventure

• Well-thought-out arguments and reasoning. Adventurers act, sometimes without thinking about the consequences. They don’t spend much time contemplating just the right way to say something, they just blurt it out.
• Weak Villains who throw hissy fits. Strong villains are everything in Adventure. The more wicked, evil, and outlandish, the better.
• Mary Sue's. Let your hero fail...a lot. A hero who just blows through the obstacles is no fun. Let him flounder for a while, and earn everything he gets.
• Deep Emotional Scenes where your characters explore their tender feelings...except how much they hate the bad guy. Adventure is not therapy…except for that satisfied feeling you get when the villain falls into the tar pit.
• Paranormal. That's like a totally other genre. I mean beyond an Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean level of paranormal. If you have sexy werewolves or sparkly vampires then get out.
• Deep Romance. Now of course the good guy gets the girl (change genders as needed) but only because he's the toughest SOB around, not because he "understands" her. He wins her…literally. See picture above.
• Moral Ambiguity. Not to say the characters can't be conflicted, but the good guys need to fight for a reason that resonates with the reader. You’re either with the hero or against him.
• Everyday Settings. The hero must explore uncharted waters (or space or desert or tombs etc). No one wants to read about an adventure to the kitchen (Unless it's Hell's Kitchen). These settings should be fairly real-world or you’ll find your story drifting into Sci Fi or Fantasy, and no one wants that.
• Conversation. Dialog should be limited to "Look out behind you" or the equivalent. This is not the place for Chatty Cathy's. Two characters talking over coffee should be avoided unless someone dies at the end of the conversation or large sums of money are exchanged.
• Mercy. Do not under any circumstances show your characters any mercy. You are the author, not their mother. Test them to their limits, and just when they think they've caught a break, drop the other shoe. Kill them if you have to. Nothing perks up your characters more than when one of their own kicks the bucket.
• Don't Kill the Cat. Don't go overboard. The Wizard of Oz would have been bitter if Toto died. Dorothy would have been like "Fuck you all, I'm outta here" if Toto kicked it. Give the hero a reason to keep fighting, something to hold onto when all hope is lost.

I hope that helps.

Novel Design: Characters

For those looking at NaNoWriMo or considering starting a novel, I’m working on a series called Novel Design.

Characters

Last week, we talked about the eight fundamental Character Archetypes in Mythic Storytelling. To be clear, “Mythic Storytelling” is an account of a Hero-type character facing challenges in order to solve some problem…which encompasses most fiction of all genres.

So here you have a concept for a character. There are tons of character worksheets online, simply Google “character worksheet” or “character profile” if you want examples. Some are in the form of long questionnaires or interviews, others are forms. I’m not going to attempt to recreate those things here. What I want to do is talk about the “process.”

Get to Know Your Character

The ultimate goal of Character Design is to know your character so well that you know how they would react to any situation. But how do you achieve that?

First, start off with some of the basic online character sheets. Name, gender, age, occupation, skills (think résumé or C.V.), family members, home, lifestyle, social status, hobbies, physical attributes. Do not carve these in stone. With the exception of gender, I have almost never kept all my original design of a character.

Next, develop a small backstory. Only include the most important events. Births, deaths, marriages, divorces. The Big Stuff. Moves, hiring and firing, greatest achievements, greatest disappointments. Remember to not go overboard. Like everything else, the backstory is subject to massive revision. You will eventually up with ten times the backstory you actually need, so it’s a balance. If the backstory really needs to be that big, maybe you’re writing the wrong story. Usually the novel itself describes the most important event of a character’s life. Note that this also varies by genre. Mysteries are all about discovering the backstory, the “crime.” Fantasies have whole extensive histories. (I’ll talk about World Building another time). For this discussion, just focus on the individual character’s history, not all of civilization’s.

The final thing you want to think about is personality and motivation. How are they with friends? Enemies? Lovers? Family? Co-workers? What are they greatest fears? Deepest desires? What do they want out of life? What will they do anything to avoid? You need to know this character better than they know themselves. Characters usually do not act in their own best interests, so define what trade-offs they make on a daily basis between what they want and what they don’t.

Use Your Character

Armed with this basic knowledge, it is helpful to put your character in motion. If you can’t wait for NaNoWriMo, then simply write a few scenes with your character and some others, maybe characters from a whole different book. Give your character a small problem to solve and see how they go about it. Work on their speech patterns, words and phrases they like, gestures they make. What sets them off? What do they fall for?

Here’s the thing. You could spend months and months working on character worksheets, detailing mannerisms and backstory and listing every article of clothing. It can be a lot of fun researching and developing these things. But worksheets are static. For me, I learn most about my characters when they act and interact with others on the page. So what I suggest is get to a level where you’re comfortable but not entirely sure. Go ahead and write your first draft. Then go through the whole process again, eliminating everything that doesn’t fit your new concept of your character, and adding things to strength them. Research where it’s weak, revise and develop where you can.

Your initial character design is what you want your character to be.
Your revised character design after the first draft is what your character needs to be.

What I’m trying to say is that Character Design is not a one-time process done over the course of a week or a month. It’s an iterative process that spans the lifetime of your drafts. Certain things don’t work. You might have made your character too passive, so when they suddenly defeat the Bad Guy it’s out of the blue. So your character needs to show some assertiveness at times. Or your character is too strong, so when they defeat the Bad Guy on page 15 you’re like, “Oops…now what?”

One last thought. I’ve planned and planned and planned, but my characters never fail to surprise me by doing something I didn’t expect or intend, but it makes so much sense or helps the story so much I can’t unwrite it. They change, they grow, they learn over the course of the novel. So when two characters kiss that you had absolutely no intention of creating a relationship between, I say go for it. Because your characters are telling you something important about themselves, something you need to pay attention to. Once they’ve kissed, once you wrote that line, you can delete the line, but the two characters will still know. And they will never be the same.

Have fun with it! And like the example above, it’s perfectly acceptable to doodle.

Countdown To NaNoWriMo 2010!

Countdown To NaNoWriMo 2010!

Yes, today is the day I begin my countdown to 12:00 AM, November 1, 2010 PDT, the official start to this year’s NaNoWriMo. See the little countdown clock? The new tab at the top of the blog? 60 days remain until the greatest annual writing event in the history of mankind begins.

What is NaNoWriMo you ask? What’s wrong with you? Okay, for those who live in caves or need a quick refresher, let me explain. NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a 50,000+ word novel during the month of November, starting from Midnight the morning of Nov. 1 to Midnight Nov. 30. Last year there were a staggering 167,150 participants and 32,178 winners. Don’t be left out!

Okay, before I go into my plans for this year’s NaNoWriMo, let me give some status updates. As you probably have noticed, I’ve been very inactive in blogging, blogfests, or even commenting on blogs. This is because I’ve been heads-down trying to finish the current revision of Steam Palace (which I wrote for NaNo 2009). I had targeted today to finish but it looks like I’m still 2-3 weeks out. I actually started this story last September, so I’ve now worked on it for a year. A whole year.

So here’s my plan for the rest of this year:

1. “Finish” Steam Palace. At least get it into a state I can send to agents/editors.
2. Send out queries for Steam Palace. Sell it. Become rich and famous.
3. Plot out my NaNoWriMo novel.
4. Write a new novel for NaNoWriMo.
5. Use December to Plot out/finish The Immortals.

I do intend to start blogging/blogfesting/etc much more once Steam Palace is completed in a few weeks. I may even host a blogfest (but don’t hold me to it).

Now what is my plan for NaNoWriMo? What will I write? Well, I’m not 100% committed to what I’m about to tell you, but there are reasons I think I should write it. Here it is (draws breath): I am going to write a sequel to Steam Palace. I think this is my best plan. Having a completed first-draft on the shelf of a sequel may make Steam Palace I more sellable (notice that I’m going to refer to it as SP1 from now on). But the reason that I’m going to move on to a new project right after NaNo is that A) I will need a break after 15 months of almost nothing but Steam Palace, and B) The Immortals is a huge concept and needs attention badly.

This year’s NaNoWriMo is going to be challenging like no other. Here is the list of things that I also have scheduled during November:

1. Nov. 6 – My wife’s 40th Birthday
2. Nov. 19 – 21 – SteamCon!
3. Nov. 25 – Thanksgiving. I always take the day off from NaNo.
4. Nov. 28 – Seattle Marathon (as a course worker).

So basically throw away ~6 days of writing time leaving me with ~24 days to write this. (Note that last year I used 25 days). This is why I really need to plan this well. Also there are only 8 weekend days this year compared to 9 last year and 10 the year before.

So starting TODAY, I am beginning to gather notes and thoughts for Steam Palace II (SP2) while still working on SP1. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting updates and blogging about the outlining process, story creation, NaNo tips, etc, and working on my exciting NaNoWriMo Page. Stay tuned!

My Best Advice for New Writers Blogfest – NaNoWriMo

My Best Advice for New Writers Blogfest – NaNoWriMo

Thanks to Carrie Bailey of Peevish Penman for hosting the My Best Advice for New Writer’s Blogfest! Check out all the other kewl entries!

Every November for the past 11 years, hundreds of thousands of writers huddle around their laptops and notepads with a singular goal in mind—write fifty thousand words in thirty days…specifically from 12am Nov. 1 to 12pm Nov. 30. Can it be done? Yes.

The “idea” behind NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is that many aspiring writers talk about writing, think about it, but never actually complete a novel. The challenge is to actually complete a novel in one month. Here’s how it works: you sit down and write 1667 words a day, more if you can. That’s about 7 pages of published text every day. Once November is over, you will have a shiny new manuscript to brag about, and you will join the ranks of those with first drafts of their novels.

Here’s why this works. By forcing yourself to write every day, and write a lot every day, you must be creative. The sheer tension of the exercise translates into your text. Your characters usually face deadlines as well. You must throw them into danger and find quirky ways to extricate them. Your life and your characters’ lives become intertwined, and you start living in both worlds at once. This is total immersion into the world of your novel, where the ideas flow out as fast as you can think them up. You don’t have time to ponder proper grammar or punctuation, let alone metaphor or point-of-view.

Now let’s be serious for a moment. Most of the stuff you will come up with will be crap (whether you write your first draft during NaNoWriMo or not). Characters will show up and disappear. Threads will be left hanging. Scenes will be as empty as a Christmas store in May. Your villains will be as hollow as a later Schwarzenegger movie. Don’t worry about it. Your magical First Draft is simply a milestone on your way to a publishable masterpiece. Consider it as a detailed outline, subject to edits and revisions. The point is that you now have something you can work with, the first step in creating something bigger. You’ve written a novel, and no one can take that away from you!

Despite the fact that NaNoWriMo starts Nov. 1, I highly suggest starting earlier—not writing, of course, but plotting, planning, thinking about characters and conflicts, the general gist of the story, settings, world-building, etc. The more you have ready-to-go before Nov. 1, the easier it will be. Character sketches, backstory, maps, descriptions, scene ideas, whatever you think might make it easier.

To help you out, I’ve assembled some of my other posts on NaNoWriMo:

• It’s NaNoWriMo Time!

• Pre-NaNoWriMo Post

• NaNoWriMo: Week One Tips

• NaNoWriMo Week Two Tips

• NaNoWriMo Week Three Tips

• NaNoWriMo Week Four Tips

• The Post-NaNoWriMo Post

Good luck, and I hope to see you all November 1, 2010!

The Post-NaNoWriMo Post

The Post-NaNoWriMo Post

This is a lengthy self-analysis of my NaNoWriMo 2009 experience. There may or may not be anything in here of interest because I’m really just doing this for my own benefit to look at the next time I write a draft.

Quick history of Steam Palace (the current working title):

• Monday, Sept 7, I post The Lover’s Journey, my take on the Hero’s Journey from a male romance point of view. I then try to write the female version, but I wind up with a compelling story idea.
• Monday, Sept. 14. I officially put down Dawn’s Rise, and start working on Steam Palace, according to this post.
• Sept. 14-Oct.31. I take my basic outline, expand it to a 10K word outline, a 3000 word character doc, a 2,500 word brainstorming doc, along with a couple ancillary docs about technology, a dictionary, and a to-do list.
• November 1, 12:00 AM. I write the first line of Steam Palace.
• November 25, 8:37 PM, I write The End.

The Facts

• Original Word count goal: 90,000
• Final word count: 79754 (By my count. The NaNoWriMo site counts 80730 but that includes some notes I made to myself in the docs, scene titles, etc.)
• Days Writing: 25
• Total days invested: ~75
• Average words/day: 3,190
• Highest word count day: Nov. 24th, 5597
• Lowest word count day: Nov. 14th, 429 (went car shopping)
• Number of chapters/scenes: 73 (avg. 2.92/day)
• Days sticking strictly to outline: ~5
• Number of main characters who died: 2
• Title Changes during Writing: 3
• Completely impossible inventions: 2+

I Grade My Original Goals

• This is the novel that I will write, edit, and sell as my first novel.
  A This is a great little story which I think people will find entertaining and fun, and I’m definitely not ready to throw it away.
• Keep up the pace.
  B I think I did this pretty well. I kept the action going throughout. In fact, to keep with my word count per Act goal, I cut planned scenes of low importance which helped move things along.
• Interesting use of low/hi tech. Something interesting on every page.
  C I wasn’t able to hit the level of creativity I wanted, and I tended to focus on a few specific inventions. Definitely will be a goal of the re-write.
• Modern anachronism, futuristic retro. Ask What If.
  C I wanted to create Flintstones-like inventions, like cell-phones, GPS, internet etc in a Steampunk setting but it just didn’t happen like I’d hoped.
• Singular character focus on goals.
  A- This I think I did to a fault. My main character stuck to her goals through thick and thin, until about 6 pages from the end of the novel. Other characters did as well.
• Focus on the main theme of the story: A girls quest to find her heart. 
  B Sort of. But the ending wasn’t really about her heart, it’s about discovering that names and titles and labels don’t mean anything, it’s what inside that counts. So it’s not as much about her heart as it is about the hearts of the people around her.
• Slow reveal of backstory, keep the reader guessing.
  B I think I did okay with this. I revealed things throughout the novel. My characters did not appreciate this.

Things I Did Well:

• Outlining
  I would say that my first attempt at decent outline went pretty well. I started with a basic 12-step Hero’s Journey, and used the Snowflake Method to continually flesh it out over the next few weeks. I wound up with different variations of the same chapter, tons of scene ideas I never used, and a real wealth of ideas to draw from.
• X-Act Structure
  I had identified my plot points very early, and I kept them intact throughout all the changes in outline. High points, low points, etc.
• Hero’s Journey
  This proved extremely helpful in figuring out how characters change and grow during the novel. I started the outline as a basic HJ and expanded it from there.
• Character-Driven
  Hopefully I did well with this. I tried to make the characters move the plot and act. From the very first scene, the characters are acting and moving forward. They drive the events.
• Research
  I had a ready-made pile of maps, names, ideas, all ready to go. This cut down the amount of distracting research to do while writing. I even attended a Steampunk Convention to help with my research.
• Conflict
  I tried to create conflict whenever I could. Inner, outer, obstacles, disagreements, etc.
• Continually increased stakes
  She starts out as travelling to visit her aunt—Little Red Riding Hood through the woods stakes. She ends with having to save the lives of her family and the future of her entire country. That’s called Raising The Stakes.
• Cut early and often
  As soon as I reached a certain word count for an area, I started cutting scenes, trimming scenes, and making the action move. Anything remotely boring had to go. I was so paranoid of overshooting my 90K mark that I might have cut too much, coming in under 80K in the end.

Things I Wish Went Gooder

• Staying on target
  The novel followed the outline for about five days than meandered around, only crossing the original outline here and there. I think I over-planned the outline a bit, not allowing enough flexibility. I also didn’t plan enough for the middle.
• Creative inventions
  I liked the things I came up with, but I don’t know how much was truly inventive. Airships, mechanical horses, it all was interesting but didn’t break ground like I’d like. I’ve done well with this before, so it’s just a matter of details and rethinking things.
• Characterization
  Despite my self-props for being character-driven, It’s not there yet. I think to work on backgrounds more. I think I have a number of good characters, but not many great ones. I have a bunch that can be flesh out more. I just need more details. More faults, more history, etc.
• Style
  I wanted to create a turn-of-the-20th century eloquent style. It worked for a few chapters, but I wore out after a while. However, I was surprised at the number of words I came up with that the spell-checker didn’t recognize. I think it was a lot of fun.
• POV
  Who knows. I tried mixing it up a bit between a few characters. But I never achieved that real deep POV that I was shooting for. I just don’t naturally write that way.
• Avoiding “banned” words
  That went out the window very quickly. Adverbs, adjectives, transitive verbs, interjections, all of it. And frankly, I don’t care. I’m beginning to see that I write the way I write, and adhering to “rules” doesn’t really serve me.
• Passive
  Whatever. I was made to write passive sentences.
• Showing vs Telling
  By compressing the outline as much as I did, I tended to start each scene with a description of what happened since the last scene…which probably will be cut or expanded in the re-write. Or maybe it will work.
• Sub-plots
  These didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. Some of them just petered out, some never gained ground, so I’ll review them and see what I need to work on.
• Romance Fail
  This was supposed to be a Romance. It’s not. It’s an adventure with a love sub-plot. Maybe I’m not cut out for Romance. Not that there isn’t a lot of suggestive content, and a love story. But there’s no sex (on-camera as it were), very little kissing, and the girl chooses the wrong guy at the end.
• True Heroism Fail
  I wanted to her to be a true hero, I really did, but she isn’t. Yes, she has a Hero’s Journey. Yes, she transforms. But I feel there’s still something missing, some element of self-sacrifice for the greater good that’s I left on the table. This will be my #1 priority for the re-write.
• Middle Sag
  The dreaded Middle. I kind of avoided the problem by not writing much of it. My Act II is 1/3 of the book, when it should be 1/2. It needs about 15K more words to balance it out. Or alternatively, I could chop down the beginning/end, or move scenes over to the middle. This I think is the main weakness of HJ. 
• Wanted more betrayals, reversals
  I wanted my main characters to be betrayed at some point, to have friends turn against them. It didn’t really happen, but there should be opportunities to introduce this.
• Write-By-Hand Fail
  Well, I don’t mean to say that it was terrible. All it did was make me write slower, and in the end, I saw no improvement in the result. No to mention that when I transcribed it, there were several words I couldn’t decipher. I will not be repeating this experiment. I’ve noveled by keyboard for 20+ years, I don’t think I’m going to change now.

Main Takeaways

• Outlining works up to a point
  If I hadn’t waited until Nov. 1 to start writing, I probably would have cut down the amount of time spent outlining with no loss of quality on the draft. As each chapter went on, I deviated more and more from the outline. After the 1/2 way point the story took over and I stopped consulting the outline at all; the story just wrote itself.
• Hero’s Journey works up to a point
  It works and it doesn’t. It’s a great tool to identify the major phases of the character arc, but it falls flat in areas, especially the middle. Also, each character has his own HJ, and they experience different parts at different times. So the end project is a mish-mash. Heck, one character has literally 3 Resurrections. So I’m learning that it’s a basic guide, but a real story has many more twists and turns in it.
• Pacing is hard
  I want to write and write about every little thing and expound on everything, reveal mounds of backstory, and explain every device, but there’s so little space in the book.
• Progress
  3K/day is sustainable for a first draft, further drafts will probably be 1000K/day range
• Getting the story done is more important than getting the story right
  I wrote an ending for the 1st time in 3 years. I’ve spent so much time working on story beginnings that I’ve neglected the endings. I literally learned more about my characters in the last 10-20 pages than I did in the first 280. When everything was on the line, I found out what was really important to them beyond everything else…and it’s not what I had intended. Do it. Finish whatever you start, even if it’s crap. It’s one thing to plan, it’s another to finish.
• New stories are good
  I should write 2+ stories a year to keep fresh/excited.
• Changing (sub) genres is fun
  I really enjoyed writing in a new genre. Romance, historical, I learned a lot from it. For some reason it got me writing the way I want to write.
• Writing is always surprising
  For instance, first I wanted my FMC to sneak into the ball via a stolen invite. Then I wanted the ball to be a debutante dance. In the final version, she’s in the orchestra, which works out even better. She doesn’t play what the host wants—instant conflict, instant interaction. She’s not even a guest…she’s the help, so he’s more at ease with her.
• My true style comes out, no matter what I write
  I’m not saying everything turns out the same. But somehow, things just sneak in, and even if I wrote a straight Romance, I’m sure it would be full of plot and action.

Next Steps

1. Print Story (in case I never touch it again…it’s free from Create Space).
2. Put on shelf for 4-8 weeks, work on another project (The Immortals).
3. Review story with critical eye, revise outline to match current story.
4. Brainstorm new ideas, conduct additional research.
5. Create new outline, update character sheets.
6. Create initial Query Letter—this will help figure out how to market this piece, and what I can change to make it sell. It’s not intended to be something I send out quite yet.
7. Rewrite story from scratch, but with corrected POV, style, plot, characterization etc.
8. Review, get feedback and critiques, etc
9. Repeat from step 2 until published.

Is anyone still reading? I hope this helped a bit.

NaNoWriMo Week Four Tips

NaNoWriMo Week Four Tips

If you’re still plugging away after 23 days, congratulations! Whether you’re at 10K or 100K words, you’re facing the same age-old question that every writer faces: How do I end this thing?? Get me out of here. Help!!

Well, the secret of the Ending is to “bring it all home.” And yes, I may use a lot of clichés in today’s piece. Your Hero has spent a good portion on his time in the Special World, and now it’s time to return home, back to the Ordinary World where it all started. But of course, the road home is blocked with the biggest obstacles of the whole novel. Your Villains are hell bent on your Hero’s destruction, everything he’s ever known is falling apart, and everything he’s worked for during the entire book is in jeopardy. Everything hangs in the balance, and failure is imminent.

There are two things to focus on: Choice and Transformation. During the final climactic scene, your Hero must make a choice. And the choice is Death. Your character must choose Death over some alternative. Now this sounds extreme, but hear me out. If your character is not willing to risk death to achieve his goals, then the stakes are not high enough. Now, this Death can be metaphorical, but really it all comes down to personal sacrifice. He must lose something to win something. The result of this risk is Transformation. Through this process, your Hero learns something new about himself, about the world, and now has the power to finally defeat the Villain. This is the final lesson, the most important of the Hero’s life.

To tie it all together, go back to the first chapter, the first line, and think about the everyday problems your Hero faced. How has he changed? How does he solve them now? What has he learned from this experience? How do people see him now? Did he achieve his initial goal, or did some larger goal replace it? This is the part of the story where the most important lessons of all are learned. How do you show that the Hero has truly changed? You send him back home, and his former insurmountable problems seem like trivial annoyances which he handles with ease.

So now for my NaNoWriMo Week Four Tips:

• Keep writing! You’re not done yet! GO! GO! GO!
• Raise the Stakes. Not just life-and-death. Not just lose-the-girl-lose-the-job-lose-the-house. We’re talking End of Days level of stakes. If your Hero loses, everyone loses. The World loses. Life as We Know It ends (which it does even if he wins BTW).
• Your Villain has a Fatal Flaw. Pride, overconfidence, a blind spot, a secret love, underlings seeking revenge, an even eviler overlord who won’t tolerate failure, a history of tax evasion, an allergy, a compulsive disorder, and most importantly, unlike your Hero, an inability to adapt and transform, to see the bigger picture, to become bigger than life. He’s stuck in his ways. Use that to your Hero’s advantage.
• Your Hero cannot win unless everyone he cares about wins too. There are no selfish victories. No one will really care that he wins his competition, or that he gets the girl. A good recent example of this is in the animated flick Cars. In the final climactic race, Lightning McQueen loses the race…intentionally. But in losing, he wins everything. Self-respect, friends, the endorsement contract, and most importantly, he gets the girl (love). He risks death, which in this case is his entire racing career, because suddenly something became more important than winning.

And one final thought, courtesy Philip J. Fry from Futurama, to think about in the darkest moments of your novel, when your Hero is on the verge of defeat, and you see no way to rescue him from the hole you’ve dug:

You can't give up hope just because it's hopeless! You have to hope even more, and cover your ears and go, 'blahblahblahblahblahblahblah!'

 

 

Good luck! Next week, my exciting (actually most likely a ponderously dull) post-mortem on this year’s NaNoWriMo experience for me, what worked and what didn’t, and my plans for the re-write.

NaNoWriMo Week Three Tips

NaNoWriMo Week Three Tips

For those doing NaNoWriMo, one of two things has happened: you’ve either forged ahead, or lost interest and motivation. Either way, congratulations for hitting the halfway point! Believe it or not, everything is downhill from here. Why? Here’s what you should have accomplished by now:

• Introduced all the main characters, good and bad, and gotten to know them.
• Figured out things like the Story Question, the main conflict, separated your characters into good guys/bad guys, and made your hero face increasing challenges.
• Included foreshadowing as to what to expect in the second half. We understand the dilemmas facing the Hero, but it still may not be clear how to solve them.

That’s a lot to have accomplished in 15 days! Pat yourself on the back, take a deep breath, because this is when the “real” writing begins. Those of you who have abandoned NaNoWriMo are missing the thrill of the Crisis and Climax, where everything is put on the line, and your main character makes the most wonderful transformation. Now, onto the details.

We’re now into the meat of Act II. Your Hero has a goal, and only one thing stands in the way. The Villain. He must confront the villain, enter their lair, and retrieve something incredibly valuable. This is known as the Crisis, but it isn’t the ultimate Climax of the story. Here is where he’s entered foreign land, learned all the curious rules about it and gathered Allies, now attempts to take on the Villain on the Villain’s home turf. Generally, this is not a good idea, but your Hero must be so committed to the journey that he will face any risk to achieve his goal.

So he’s off to face the Villain, who is kind of “huh?” right now. The Villain is not really focused on some insignificant bug that’s buzzing around. He’s off doing his dastardly deeds, heedless of the consequences. By the end of this week, that all changes. He now will see the Hero as his main threat, so he’ll come after the Hero with everything in his arsenal. Week Three is when you separate the men from the boys, the Heroes from the Wannabe’s. So here is a general outline:

1. The Hero approaches the Villain’s Inner Sanctum. The Villain is safe and secure in his world, not really worried about pesky Heroes showing up. He may have even tried to befriend or recruit the Hero, but it’s becoming clear that they are diametrically opposed on certain key elements.
2. The Hero engages the Villain in a preliminary scuffle. Not an all out war, not a duel to the death. More like a shoving match. There may be lesser cohorts that he does defeat on the way to facing the Villain, but he’s still unprepared for a final showdown.
3. The Hero steals something valuable from the Villain (knowledge, power, influence, allies, money, love, secrets, clues, etc). The Villain has underestimated his foe, but won’t make that mistake again.
4. The Villain is really pissed off and pursues the Hero. “It’s On” as they say. The Hero must flee back to relative safety. He about to be on his way back to his Ordinary World, but everything has changed, and he can’t return until the Enemy is defeated.

So now onto the Tips for Week Three:

• Raise the stakes. Raise the stakes. Raise the stakes. The story’s no longer about finding a hamburger joint. It’s now a life-and-death struggle to find a hamburger joint, and this hairy dude holding your girlfriend hostage.
• The Hero must be willing to face death to confront the Villain. This is a perfect time to kill off a couple characters, to remind the Hero what the ultimate price of failure is. If not actual death, then show those characters fighting the Villain…and losing so badly they abandon the journey. Either way, they’re martyrs who remind the Hero what he’s fighting for.
• The Hero will end the week with everything he needs to defeat the Villain…except for one thing: the ability to defeat his own inner demons. This is the focus of Week Four, so hold off on major transformations.
• A Hero’s allies can not be trusted. They have their own agendas. They are lured by the Villain and may fall prey to their baser needs. The Villain has agents everywhere, ready to snatch away unwary travelers in his kingdom.
• Reward the Hero for his efforts after he faces the Villain. You could call this the “final breather” before the very end of the story, because after this week, it’s a frantic race to the finish.

If you still get stuck, here are some thoughts to keep you going:

• What is the villain’s agenda? How does he react when some usurper dares invade his territory?
• Put more things on the line, more lives in jeopardy, more things the Hero holds dear in the balance.
• Your Hero must cling to his original goals through thick and thin, despite all the evidence that they be on the wrong path. Is saving the world really worth the sacrifice? All he wants is a burger, but now he has to save the world? WTF?? Can’t he just have a burger and call it a day? No, he can’t. Drill that through his head. You’re in Act II buddy, no turning back now.
• There are no easy victories at this point. Everything is earned with a steep price. The Call to Quit is strong here. Both for you as a writer and the Hero. But you both can’t.
• Everything that can go wrong goes wrong. Here. Make it so. Deal with it.
• Don’t give up. I mean you, as the writer. You can get through this rough week where your characters are beat up and flailing against a seemingly invincible enemy. But this week will expose the enemy’s weaknesses, and hopefully illustrate your strengths as a writer. Now you know how to defeat the enemy, and Week Four will be a breeze.

Good luck!