Talking out the story

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This week I wanted to touch on a tactic that I use on a regular basis that really helps me as far as developing the plot and depth of my story. 

Let's face it people.  The mind of a writer is a fun house of mirrored story lines, jumbled characters, and a million intersecting events that are the ideas which slowly become cohesive manuscripts.  I can't speak for everyone but for me at times it's a little daunting, especially when I'm working on a longer project as I am now.  I definitely sit down at the beginning and do an outline, but normally not all the dots are present at that point, and when I go to connect them later I'm a little upset that they're missing.  This brings me to my topic for the week- having someone to bounce ideas off of and just generally talk to about your project.

I know, I know, it sounds so freaking simple.  Just talk to someone about your story-yeah, so what?  That's easy right?  Well...in my experience, it's not.  How many times have you started down the path of explaining your plot idea to a non-writer and had them begin to glance over your shoulder at something else more exciting like the football game or paint drying on a nearby wall?  Yeah, it's annoying as hell, but it's also common.  People who don't write every day can't always get absorbed in a potential idea no matter how close to you they are.  Don't give up and just try to go at it alone thinking that you'll be able to tough it out by yourself without any input from someone else.  You'll always benefit from another person's opinion.  Acknowledgments are in books for a reason.  

So here's what helps me- 

  • Find someone that's trustworthy, ie someone who will not spread your story around or take it for their own.
  • Talk out your story in as much detail as you can.  Explore every avenue and path no matter how strange it might seem at the time- you may end up with a completely new and better story line than you had before.
  •  Let your sounding board speak, and listen when it does.  My wife is a wonderful listener but she's also very insightful and she's actually turned me in new directions that benefited my stories greatly.

Those are just a few ways of talking your ideas out of the woods of your mind and into the open.  Sometimes, the only thing a good idea needs to grow into a great manuscript is a little coaxing and someone willing to listen.

Until next time, keep writing, and talking. 

Don't rush your characters

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Hi friends!  So this week I read several samples of books that had one thing in common.  Characters that were over driving their headlights so to speak.  What I mean by that is the people in the stories were being forced along before I'd actually met them.  Forced by dialogue, forced by circumstance, and forced by conflict.

The characters in stories are like the sticky stuff on the back of Post-Its.  The story is written on their backs and if they're being hurried along or forced in some way, the note doesn't stick.  In fact, it gets crumpled up and thrown away.  In my opinion a character has to develop slowly- they have to be revealed to the reader not all at once, but little by little.  In the recent story I read the plot was good, the theory was sound but the characters were hurried along so fast, by dialogue that revealed too much about their situations especially, that by the second chapter I didn't care what happened to them.  When a reader doesn't care what happens to the characters, it's game over folks, pack up your things and head out.

So, here's some ideas to develop your characters well without forcing the issue:

  •  Don't over-describe- This kinda falls in with my last post about telling instead of showing.  Telling too much about a character can be stifling for a reader.  Give a general description that is original or shows the reader something unique about the character.  Let the reader imagine, they'll always be able to think it better than you can write it
  • Make the character relateable- Your characters can't be uber heroes anymore without any faults.  No one can relate to someone who doesn't have a weakness.  Having multi-faceted characters will make them three dimensional and more real to the reader.  Let the hero fall and make the villain have a genuinely humorous side, it will endear them to the reader and make the book more enjoyable.   
  • Let your character speak- Your characters grow the best when watered with dialogue.  Let them talk naturally to one another.  Always keep your eye on where the story is headed and make sure your characters are driving it in the right direction with what they're saying.  I always read that once you really got to know your characters they would just begin talking on their own.  I find this to be true, so let them speak and they'll show you how well they're able to stand on their own two feet.

So that's it folks, just a few quick tips.  There's tons of other ways to develop characters in your tales but hopefully the aforementioned ideas will help you let them grow naturally without rushing them.

Until next time, write hard and if you get a chance, let me know what you think of the posts- I'd really appreciate it!

   

Introduction to blogging

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Hey everyone, this is my first and only blog, so bear with me as I get used to this new social media.  I wanted to start off by introducing myself.  My name is Joe Hart and I'm a horror author.  As of today I have one book, self published on Amazon.com- Midnight Paths: A collection of Dark Horror.  I'm currently working on a novel that should be available late next fall.

So, I've dedicated this blog to everything to do with horror, independent publishing, and writing in general.  I'm planning on posting a different topic or subject each week, just kinda going where the wind takes me.

To begin I'd like to just bring everyone up to date on my history, my book, and basically my life in general.

I've been writing since I was 9.  I tapped away on my mother's electronic typewriter and tried to think up stories to scare my parents with.  Since then I've written over a 100 poems, around 50 short stories, two novellas, and I'm currently working on a full-length novel.  My journey into the self publishing world began when I was working on a survival novel.  I kept getting ideas for short horror stories and I kept writing them down.  After a time, they just wouldn't go away and kept calling my name to finish them.  I began writing on them in earnest in mid-summer this year and finished editing them in the middle of October.  My book went live on October 18th and its been going well ever since.  The self publishing option is a God-send for upcoming writers (I won't get into details in this post since I'm keeping it light :)

I'm married to a wonderful woman and have 2 beautiful children who light up my life from dawn til dusk.  That's really why I write, so hopefully someday I'll be able to do this full-time and do what I've always dreamed of.  If you haven't checked out my book yet on Amazon, please help an independent writer out and do so.

Some of my inspiration for this blog comes from J.A. Konrath and Scott Nicholson- two extremely talented writers who have had a ton of success self publishing.  Check them out on Amazon if you haven't already.

That's really all for now, like I said I just want to do an intro and get the feel for this blogging stuff- maybe it'll come in handy someday when I actually have a following of people.  Thank you, to everyone who has purchased my book and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.  If you're on Twitter, please follow me there.  I try to think of witty things to say when I'm not actually writing.

Until next time, take care and I'll see you soon on this dark path.

-Joe Hart