There’s no way for this post not to sound self-serving, so I’ll get it out there right away:
I want you to care more about art. And as such, you need to care more about artists.
It’s an age-old song and I know that repetition can be grating, but in the midst of this COVID-19 nonsense (not taking a stand, I just believe the whole situation is unbelievable, therefore nonsense), we have the opportunity to reevaluate our lives. And what are people doing while stuck at home?
They’re engaging with art. They’re watching movies and reading books. They’re creating elaborate trick shots and song parodies for social media. They’re writing quippy lines and memes on Twitter. And yet, when things go back to whatever level of normal we try to reach, those things will disappear again. When we go back to work, we will forget the things that got us through the darkness. Why?
Because we’re way too busy. A 40-hour workweek, combined with commute times and mealtimes, leaves very little room for anything else. And that’s just the base level. Add in kids or elderly parents and you’ve got a whole new list of responsibilities. If you want to work out, you can add at least ninety minutes to your schedule. Tons of people don’t have ninety minutes to spare.
Did you know scientists have worked out that the average adult works way more now than they did as hunters and gatherers? Leisure time used to be a lot bigger. And it was often filled with art. The trouble is, artists don’t get much of the credit.
There’s a Face Behind Your Art
I was a freshman in high school when STEM really got big. And I cannot explain to you the sadness and fear I felt when I was told repeatedly that my goals were obsolete. That my contribution would be nothing if I chose a creative field, and that I was worthless if I could not conform.
I watched my favorite choir teacher walk away from a school that she loved because they kept cutting her classes. Because even when the principal took steps to make it better, even when my teacher took on other classes to make up the difference, they just kept cutting the arts. I cried for both of us the day she left. I cried again when I realized I couldn’t afford to take another choir class anyway because my other credit requirements did not leave enough time in my schedule.
Without fame, we are nothing
Artists largely go unseen because without notoriety they are not deemed as part of society. But whether it’s in the top ten or just some song you found on accident, somebody created it. Who wrote that book you read during the pandemic? Who painted the scene that gave you solace in your darkest hour? Who produced the TV shows and movies that you watch on a daily basis? Who wrote and/or sang the song you’re listening to?
No one thinks Stephen King is a waste of space. JK Rowling is an idol. Taylor Swift is treated like royalty. But when your friend, your neighbor, your child—or whoever, really—reveals that they want to be an artist, they are met with overwhelming doubt. And the longer they go without commercial success, the more judgment they receive.
When are you going to grow up?
When are you going to get a “real job?”
Don’t you want to contribute to the world?
These are all things I’ve heard firsthand. And I know that I am not alone.
I’m not trying to demonize anyone or say that artists have it worse than anyone else. This is simply a call to acknowledge, during a time when art has likely taken a bigger part on your life’s stage, the necessity of creative fields. And you cannot acknowledge the importance of art without acknowledging the importance of the artists themselves. There is a face behind your art. And they are in desperate need of your support.
STEM is Great, But it’s Not Enough
I love STEM. I love that students with a talent for science, technology engineering, and math have better opportunities to jumpstart their education as a result of STEM programs. But I hate the added assertion that these are the only fields worth entering.
As a Freshman in college, I read an essay from Harper’s Magazine titled “The Neoliberal Arts” that changed my life. In it, William Deresiewicz discusses the changing college landscape and the disappearance of programs deemed not to be commercially viable. Included in these is not just art, but theoretical math and physical science. Vocational fields are all that matter in terms of production value. I highly recommend the read—it’s pretty quick.
Deresiewicz, 26
Basically, Deresiewicz points out that the reason for the change is because all values have been reduced to money values. This means that even math and science are only valuable when they can turn a profit. It’s obvious that money makes life easier. The more you have, the less you’ve likely suffered during this pandemic. But money alone didn’t get you through it.
Science can create vaccines and search for treatments, but it cannot eradicate a virus. Math can tell you what the numbers are and offer you statistics, but it can’t bring your loved ones back to life. Technology and engineering can bring new advances to the way we practice medicine, but at the end of the day nothing can protect you from your own mortality.
We’ve seen it with the virus. When STEM failed to solve the problem, we turned to art to cope with it. Music, entertainment, and literature have been the lifeblood of the pandemic because while STEM can help to make life possible, art is typically what makes life worth living. We need both in order to thrive.
Show Your Artists a Little Love
This is the part where I should tell you to fight for more funding in. the arts, and you definitely should. But for now, all I’m asking is that you remember us as the world opens back up. Support the people close to you who want to create. Stand up for yourself if you are a creator, and stop letting the world tell you that your contribution is nothing.
We are all of us mortal. We need to appreciate what we have and encourage the things that make our lives valuable. So the next time you play a song, read a book, or watch TV, remember the people that gave it to you. Remember that there is more to life than survival, and we need diversity in our communities to make it happen.
We need vocational studies. We need mathematicians and doctors and engineers and pilots and economists. And we need artists, too.
Don’t forget to follow the blog for great weekly content. And make sure to join my Facebook page or follow me on social media to stay updated. Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
Brace yourselves, because this post is mildly political. Today we remember the fallen members of the United States Armed Forces who gave their lives in pursuit of freedom. The sovereignty we enjoy here in America was not easily won, nor is it easily maintained. Stories like Pearl Harbor, Hacksaw Ridge, Lone Survivor, and so many others remind us of the brutality of war, but more importantly of the reality and power of human goodness.
So often we celebrate heroism without taking into consideration just how necessary it was. It’s easy to condemn war when we are faced with any amount of blood and terror. But freedom is still a relatively new concept in world history. Just 81 years ago the second world war broke out. Two years before that, Japan invaded China, spreading all manner of abuse and horror in Nanjing on their way to a new vision of Asia dominated by the Japanese.
North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and so many other countries are subjugated by tyrannical and terrible leaders who would see their people starve to death in pursuit of their own power. Inequality throughout the world stage increases violent crime and all the while, most of us in America enjoy a great deal of security because it has been paid for with the blood of our countrymen.
It’s Good to be in America, Even if You Count the Imperfections
Without intervention, freedom will wither. Germany enjoyed a season of economic gain and prosperity right before they plunged into genocide. In Venezuela, where leaders are “elected,” the threat of imprisonment and even death keeps candidates from running and keeps the polls from being anywhere near fair.
“Freedom” has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years, but at any given moment in America’s history, we have enjoyed more freedom and better chances at economic success than many other places in the world. And while we may live through presidents we didn’t vote for and leaders we do not agree with, we do not live in daily fear that our government will starve us or put us to death for speaking out against tyranny. We do not always appreciate what it is like to suffer because whatever hardship we endure in this country is part of a spectrum we rarely have to see.
This is not a political site, and I did not set out to write a political post. But writing never was non-partisan and I believe Americans would do well to remember on this day that freedom is not a given, even if it seems like the world at large is more civilized than ever before.
What Does This Have to do With Writing?
The stories I mentioned above are one of the only ways for non-soldiers to understand the depth and depravity of war. As a high school student I read The Things They Carried and it stuck with me for life. I have no love of gratuitous violence, but sometimes we have to look at horrible things to understand the cost of beauty.
Hearing about a soldier who refused to kill anyone in WWII is one thing, but watching Desmond T. Doss (played by Andrew Garfield) fight for his life and save both Japanese and American soldiers all while gruesome violence breaks out around him puts it into perspective.
Likewise, it’s hard to understand the extent of what Mohammad Gulab sacrificed to save Marcus Luttrell in Afghanistan in 2005 until you see it played out on screen or read it on the page. Of course movies and books might skew some of the details on occasion, but the resulting empathy is, at least in my opinion, very worth it.
Stories Connect Us to the Past and Prepare Us for the Future
Stories, even fictional ones, have the power to connect us to experiences outside our own. We can get a glimpse into the lives and minds of those who have fought so valiantly for the person standing next to them–and for millions of people they will never meet.
Authors throughout history have demonstrated that ideas are just as formidable as weapons. Look at George Orwell’s 1984 or Animal Farm. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, The Diary of Anne Frank, and even The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Hitler’s greatest ally was not violence but propaganda. Ideas are powerful. Writers have the power to shape them and readers have the ability to be transformed by them.
We owe it to the people who fought (and continue to fight) for our freedom to keep fighting. Like anything in life, freedom can be taken. Privilege can be lost. And the easiest way to lose something is to forget its value.
Today, I challenge you to engage with a war story. Listen to your relatives, read a story online, watch a movie, or find a book. Forgotten cruelty is so much more likely to be repeated. Realize the power of stories, and don’t forget that information is one of the many freedoms you enjoy because someone else fought for it. Don’t let their stories die with them.
Happy Memorial Day. Thank you to the soldiers who got us here.
Writer’s block is a huge problem, even for professionals. But as a writer, you might be tempted to call it writer’s block even when it isn’t. Blocks happen when you just can’t find the perfect words or you’re feeling a little distracted from your work. But sometimes the problem is a lot deeper than that, and it requires a specific fix.
I’m writing this blog post this morning instead of writing my book, so trust me, I know where you’re coming from. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve let months go by without typing a word and it’s a terrible feeling. But if you’re struggling with it right now, there are things you can do to break through that wall.
Like me, you may be distracted by everything else you have to get done. Or you might be feeling off about your story and you’re not sure where to go. Even if you’re not a writer, this advice can help with your struggle.
You Need to Revisit Your Outline
If you feel like you’re banging your head against the wall when it comes to your book, there’s a good chance something in your story is broken. There have been many times when I wanted to write, but the words wouldn’t come. And it was bigger than writer’s block. I would stare at my screen for hours trying to figure out what to write next and it was like the writing gods had stayed my hand.
Almost every time this has happened to me, it turned out to be my own brain warning me that my story wasn’t right. Something about my plot was broken and I needed to fix it before I could keep writing.
Take a look at your outline
If you don’t have an outline, there’s your first mistake. Write one.
If you do have one, read through the whole thing. And don’t forget to make sure it lines up with the three-act structure. If it’s just writer’s block, you’ll probably feel a renewed connection to your plot and be able to continue. And if it’s something bigger, you’ll feel that warning in the back of your brain telling you that something needs to be adjusted.
In my case, it hardly ever comes as a spark of intuition where I know immediately what the problem is and how to fix it. It’s just a nagging feeling that won’t go away until I do. The bigger problem is, the longer you sit with something like this the more exhausted your mind is. You need a new stimulus to keep working on it and you won’t find it alone in your bedroom.
Talk your story through with someone else
When you run into a problem but you can’t see what it is, the best thing to do is to get input. Choose your advisors carefully, lest they lead you astray, but find someone you can bounce ideas off of. Often times you just need to talk through your problem to work it out. They’ll offer you advice, which you don’t have to take, but even that will help get your mind working on the problem again instead of drowning in the feeling of being overwhelmed.
Don’t force it, and take a break from your book if you have to. Unlike day-to-day writer’s block, these big issues can’t be fixed simply by working harder. Take a break and give your brain a chance to think about something else. Go experience the world around you and the chances are your solution will come when you least expect it (because you’ve finally given your brain the break it needs).
You Feel Pressured to Put it Off
There’s a lot going on in the world right now. People are working more hours than is strictly necessary and you have obligations, whether it’s just you or you’re supporting a family. With everything going on there’s a lot of pressure, both internal and external, to put off your writing.
I get it. I’ve been there. In fact, I’m there right now. But you need to take your writing seriously because it’s important to you. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t bother, because writing is seriously hard work. Don’t let your obligations take your writing away. Find a little time here and there to work on it, even if you can only manage an hour here and there.
Make a Schedule
If your obligations include other people, you need to set time for your writing and make sure the people in your life respect that boundary. Parents should give their kids some alone time (provided they’re old enough, of course) and let the kids know that mommy or daddy is working. It’s not neglectful to take time for yourself. And if you schedule your at-home time to include some me-time, you’ll still be able to fit in time to spend with your children. It’s all about balance.
Make sure you stand up for your time as well. Emergencies happen and sometimes you have to take care of your obligations before you can take that time to write. But do your best to make that time a priority and don’t be a pushover when others try to infringe on it.
The hard truth
Sometimes it’s a matter of standing up for yourself, even with the people you love. No matter how hard they try to be supportive, your loved ones will go through stages with your writing. The longer it takes you to finish, the harder it will be for them to wait. Give them a little grace when they get impatient, but don’t let it keep you from writing. Remind them that this is your passion and that it’s part of your work (yes, writing is a job), and you need time to focus on it.
In the worst case scenario, you might have to take a break from toxic relationships. If you find your friends are entirely unsupportive of your dreams, they’re not the friends you want to keep around. Be willing to distance yourself from negative influences.
You’re Afraid of Your Own Success
It sounds crazy, but it’s more common than you’d think, especially among writers. As introverts, writers tend to overanalyze everything. It can be a good trait to have, but it can also leave you crippled when you imagine what will happen if you do finish your manuscript. You spend so much time stressing over the next steps that you can’t bring yourself to finish the ones you’re on.
What you have to determine is where that fear is coming from. You might think it’s your fear of failure that keeps you from finishing your manuscript, but I suspect that you’re dealing with the opposite problem in large quantities. I’m not saying the fear of failure doesn’t apply, but it’s not the whole picture.
You’re afraid to let go
No one wants to put their soul into the world and have it rejected. But it goes deeper than that. You aren’t just afraid that you won’t get published. You’re afraid of what will happen if you do.
Seeing readers fall in love with your story is the dream, isn’t it? Why would anyone be afraid to achieve their dream?
I’ll tell you why: because if you finish your book, it will be over.
Sometimes you’re so in love with your characters or your world or your plot that you can’t imagine what you’d do without them. It’s scary to think of leaving it behind because you know as a perfectionist (and don’t even try to tell me you’re not one) your book will never truly be finished. You could spend a lifetime tweaking and improving it, but you have to let that impulse go.
Good things end so better things can fall into place. And you’re not writing your book for you, you’re writing it for readers. So as scary as it is to move on and leave one story behind, you have to learn that the life of a writer is one of loss. Eventually, you’ll have to close chapters so you can write new ones.
Keep Writing, But Don’t be Ignorant
Whatever the reason for your writer’s block, it can be very unhelpful to “just keep working.” You need to take a moment to analyze yourself and determine why you can’t seem to write so you can pick the right actions to solve it. When your story is broken, no amount of forced word count will fix it. Look at your story and learn to play doctor with yourself and your work. Ask yourself what’s really holding you back and you’ll have a much better time working through it.
Take a deep breath, accept your mortality, and finish your book. Let me know in the comments if this advice helped you, or if you have any more advice to share. Writers need support! And don’t forget to follow this blog right now for more helpful tips to keep you writing in the future.
Last night I watched The Town, starring (and directed by) Ben Affleck. It was a great film about a gang of armed robbers who terrorize the city of Charlestown until the main character falls for one of their victims. As I said, it’s a great movie and I highly recommend it. But it got me thinking: why do we root for the criminals?
Mind you, I’m not talking about the kinds of villains we can’t help but respect even as we condemn them. The Joker has had audiences fascinated since Heath Ledger’s immortalizing performance in The Dark Knight, but that’s a different breed of fascination.
I’m talking films like Baby Driver, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gone in 60 Seconds, etc. where our hero is a criminal. And while sometimes we watch as Baby tries to escape a life he got pulled into by accident, many times we watch Jack Sparrow pilfering his weasely black guts out and we actually want him to get away with it.
What is it about criminals?
So what is it that makes characters like Jack so exhilarating? Why do we, as functioning members of society in which stealing is considered wrong, root for the outlaws? I have a few theories, but all of them come back to the same core desire: freedom.
Throughout history, despotic governments have risen and been overthrown. Women have challenged the patriarchy and demanded the right to vote. The poor have risen up against the rich. People have an innate desire for freedom that cannot be rooted out, even in the best of circumstances.
It would be irresponsible not to point out here that there are many people in the world who still find themselves at the mercy of tyranny, corruption, and evil. And I would never lessen that reality by claiming freedom is a universal experience. But even in the happiest, most developed parts of the world, there is a constant churning in the underbelly of society—a wave building to its crest because humans are not designed to accept reality; we are born to challenge it.
For this reason, the heist story is a popular choice for viewers. And while we spend a lot of time justifying the actions of our favorite criminals, there is a part of our attraction that does not rely on justification at all. It’s undeniable; we are drawn to miscreants and outlaws. Explore with me for a moment, won’t you?
Why we Root for Criminals: Because we Feel Incomplete
Living in polite society requires certain sacrifices. While some of us yearn for the time of outlaws in the wild west, the fact is most of us have signed the social contract that says we will not simply take what we want. We will work for it. We will build communities and live in peace with our neighbors.
This is especially true in capitalism where citizens are promised equal return for their grueling input. I’m obviously writing from an American perspective, but capitalism or no, most of us have had to sacrifice our dreams for the sake of practicality. And the strange part is, we treat it like a joke.
But what’s so silly about wanting to be a pop star? What is so ridiculous about the kid who wants to be a superhero, only to grow up and find out that radioactive spiders don’t come around all that often? Bruce Wayne didn’t have any superpowers, and that never stopped him. Then again, few of us are billionaires.
But my point is, why is it so ridiculous to dream of something bigger than what the world would have us settle for? We surrender dreams of grandeur in search of something more practical. Why? Because our survival depends on it.
We may sign the social contract, but that doesn’t mean we don’t crave a little anarchy
Few of us choose the careers we find ourselves in, and even in those cases when we make it into our desired fields, we did not dream of sacrificing all our time and sanity for a job that was supposed to give us value.
The sad truth is, we do not always get out of things what we put into them. Sometimes you start in the mailroom and never work your way past middle management. More often than not, that fledgling business you try to start fails. Or, like me, you spend countless hours writing manuscripts only to have door after door slammed in your face. So we look to characters who also experience the unfairness of lost or unattainable dreams, of which there are many different kinds.
The Unwilling Participant
Often times our thief did not choose a life a crime; he/she stumbled into it accidentally. In Baby Driver, Baby doesn’t want to play get-away driver to a bunch of hardened criminals. He made a mistake when hew as young that sent him into a life he doesn’t know how to get out of. Sure, he spends his weekends fleeing from the police, but at home, he’s taking care of his deaf (former) caretaker. We are drawn to this type of criminal, perhaps because we too feel as though we have been forced into a life we didn’t fully get to choose.
Baby offers us a sympathetic look at the entrapment that creeps up on us as we sacrifice the impractical dreams of our youth for what is real, for what is attainable. And with his sympathy, he offers us the fantasy that we too can escape the monotony of our lives and get back to what we wanted to do in the first place: live.
The Righteous Theif
This is the one true Robin Hood. Fight me.
Sometimes the criminal is hardly a criminal at all, but that doesn’t make it less exciting. Robin Hood sees the corruption in the system and seeks to steal back the prosperity of the rich that was built on the backs of the poor. And when stealing from tyrannical leaders, it doesn’t seem so wrong. In fact, we want there to be someone out there taking back the power we have lost.
Benjamin Gates in National Treasure is similarly moral, except in this case we get the fantasy of high crime without any immorality at all. Ben has to steal The Declaration of Independence to protect it, and the treasure, from those who would seek to do harm. In this way, we get to live the ultimate dream of the heist without ever having to answer the moral question because the answer is almost universal; stealing cannot be wrong when done in the pursuit of something righteous.
In both cases, we get to feel all warm and fuzzy because it’s not really stealing, is it? A person who cares for the poor cannot truly be immoral. We are willing to bend the definition of justice instead of calling for mercy because deep down we don’t think Robin is justified in crime as much as we believe no crime has been committed.
I think it goes deeper than the fantasy of the heist. I think we have an unconscious desire to justify criminal activity for the characters we like, and characters like Robin and Ben simply make it easier for us.
The Lovable Outlaw
The most interesting case of rooting for the bad guy comes in the form of the outlaw who isn’t really a moral character at all. Sometimes our hero is a criminal through and through, but it doesn’t matter. And I suspect it never mattered in the first place.
The truth is, we like the fact that Robin Hood is in pursuit of the greater good. But we don’t need him to be. We would root for him all the same even if he kept the money for himself.
Enter Jack Sparrow. He’s a far less noble thief, though he certainly has his moments. But we root for him from the beginning and it has little to do with the morality of fighting off the East India Trading Company. Norrington, in the first film at least, is not a bad guy. He believes in honor and justice. He seeks to enforce it for a government he believes in. Yet we all feel that subtle unrest that wants to see him overthrown; we want Jack to get away.
But how can we root for thieves even when their moral compass is askew? How can we as viewers justify criminal activity in stories when we would be slower to do so in real life?
Because Jack is bigger than a few quippy one-liners and the inability to walk in a straight line. In the pirate’s own words, “It’s not just a keel and hull and a deck and sails. That’s what a ship needs. But what a ship is… what the Black Pearl really is… is freedom.”
This Jack Sparrow quandary is at the center of everything I believe about the attraction to outlaws. We can spend all day trying to justify otherwise criminal action because the character in question had no choice or believed in something bigger than himself. But at the end of the day, we all just want to be free.
Why we Root for Criminals: It’s Not About Right or Wrong
My point is not that people are full of unconscious evil desires. Quite the opposite, actually. The same desire that leads us to imagine stealing the gorgeous Audi in the parking lot at the gym has led people to do extraordinary things. Because of our innate, human desire for freedom, we seek to correct injustice, to liberate the poor, and to change the face of history. So, while I think our reasoning may be less than moral in a societal sense, I believe it stems from the incorruptible desire to act without the constraint of laws, policies, and beliefs that would see any man or group imprisoned.
In short, I think we should lean into whatever complex emotions lead us to root for outlaws.
Stories allow us to experience things the real world can’t. Society would collapse if everyone were like Jack Sparrow. But that doesn’t mean we can’t espouse the idea that all men are created equal. That on some level pirates, kings, outlaws, and rule-makers are all the same. Because underneath whatever pretenses we live in, we all desire the same thing:
Mastering dialogue is a necessary part of being a writer, but it comes more naturally to some than others. Whether you’re a natural or you find yourself struggling, these 6 tips will improve your dialogue. I’ve read a few books lately that had terrible dialogue and it was so distracting I put the book down. Dialogue is one of the best ways for readers to connect yo your characters—especially if your narrative style is limited to one person. To ensure you don’t fall prey to the same issue, I’m giving you 6 ways to improve dialogue in your book and make sure readers keep reading.
1: Dialogue Tags
New Writers
Don’t get tripped up with fancy dialogue tags. “He/she said” is perfectly fine and most of the time your readers will skip over it without really noticing. But when you start adding tags like chortled or bellowed it becomes more obvious and it breaks them out of the read. The whole point is to let the dialogue itself do the talking, so for new writers, I recommend sticking to he said/she said until you learn some tricks to hide it even more.
If a unique tag is crucial, and I do mean crucial, to the understanding of the dialogue you can go ahead and use mumbled or screamed, but I promise you those tags are rarely necessary. It’s all about practice and I find it’s best to get into a rhythm of simple tags before you increase the difficulty.
Seasoned Writers
Using simple tags is pretty standard advice, but once you’ve gotten used to tagging dialogue directly, it’s time to learn how to hide your dialogue tags. It’s very similar to an academic paper when you blend quotes. Here’s a super simple example of what not to do:
“How do you expect to get there without a car?” Jane asked before walking to the bookshelf.
“Trust me,” Eric replied, “I have a plan.”
See how unnecessary something like “replied” is? It breaks up the dialogue for no good reason (other than to remind us who is speaking in a very annoying and unnecessary way). Even if you add actions between lines the tags are so obvious that it speaks to your inexperience as a writer and takes the reader out of the story. Instead, use actions to tag your dialogue without direct tags as often as you can. See here:
“How do you expect to get there without a car?” Jane wandered to the bookshelf and traced her finger over the spines, her hips swaying the way they always did when she wanted something. If history was any indication, it was a very effective strategy.
“Trust me.” Eric ran his tongue over his teeth, stealing a glance at the elegant shape of her legs in her signature tight jeans. “I have a plan.”
By disguising your dialogue tags in action you can skip the hassle of direct tags which will improve your flow and keep readers immersed. It’s also a lot easier to add interesting narration when you’re not bogged down with tags in every sentence.
2: Don’t Forget Subtext
Subtext is everything your characters aren’t saying. Too many times new writers give away their character’s every thought in their dialogue, but no one speaks that way in real life. If you want your character to feel real and for their relationships to be complex and interesting, you need a lot of subtext.
Friends don’t always tell each other when they’re offended. Lovers, especially new ones, have trouble confessing their deepest fears and desires. But in any case of human interaction, those thoughts and feelings exist on the edges, painting everything your character says in a unique light. If you give too much away, it will feel stilted.
Think about all the things that go through your head when you talk to someone. The majority of what you think doesn’t come out of your mouth, so don’t let your characters be unrealistically sharing.
How can you add subtext?
Actions are a great way to add subtext. I call it the “never mind,” because having your character start to say something and then change their mind is one of the easiest ways to add subtext. Say your protagonist is off to face his enemy, but he’s been fighting with his brother:
Alex forced his feet to the door, though it was the last thing he wanted to do. His hand hovered over the doorknob and his fingers shook as he tried to grab it.
“Hey, Alex?” Jared stood, his Adam’s apple bobbing when he swallowed. For the first time in nearly a month, he made full eye contact.
Alex felt his chest tighten. “Yeah?” He turned, the invisible ties around him growing stronger. Responsibility be damned. If Jared asked to come along he’d have to let him. Who better to have on a suicide mission?
His brother’s jaw tightened and he shoved his hands in his pockets. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Alex nodded and rushed through the door without looking back.
When you focus on what your character’s don’t say, you give them a chance to display complex emotions. Alex wants his brother to come with him. Jared wants to go, but neither of them knows how to breach the gap. In a full book where both of these characters have been developed, readers would be begging them to just talk to each other instead of missing what might be their last chance.
Hidden Motives
This is just one example of subtext. You can also show deeper emotions like resentment, fear, etc. that the character’s don’t say they feel outright (and neither does the narration). You can just feel it based on body language, tone, and word choice. Check out this scene from Game of Thrones for a great example of subtext:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb0r60j2XMI
For all the things Sansa and Daenerys do say to each other, I could write an essay about what they don’t say. Remember, your audience is smarter than you think they are. They’ll pick up on the gist of your dialogue without you having to spell it out.
3: Never Use Filler Dialogue
Like everything else in your book, dialogue should be written on purpose. Even small talk should demonstrate something deeper about your characters. Filler dialogue is easy to spot and it’s annoying to readers. If you find yourself writing a conversation because you need to take up space, that’s not a good enough reason.
When writing any conversation, you should use it to expose something about the characters. Maybe the bartender is short with people because he just broke up with his girlfriend and he’s in a trash mood (don’t forget to give your characters some backstory!). Or your protagonist’s palms sweat every time they talk to their crush. Use smaller conversations to convey these details in a meaningful way, and make sure it always has something to do with the big picture.
All dialogue should be essential. If yours isn’t, cut it.
4: Write the Dialogue First
Having trouble? It can be extremely useful to write out all the dialogue for a chapter without adding any narration at first. This is a great way to keep your goals in mind and make sure your dialogue is heading somewhere. It’s also great for adding subtext because you can easily see when your characters are saying too much. Look at the dialogue without the narration and you should see places where the words are not explicit but the meaning is there. Plus, it’s a great way to break through writer’s block.
Sometimes you just need to see the bones of a chapter before you can really bring it to life. Set up the scaffolding with dialogue and it will become clear where you should add narration and what kind of narration will make the scene more effective. You might even have a new idea about the setting or context of a discussion after you see the way it plays out. For instance, a conversation that is happening at a crowded mall might be better served in a quiet setting.
5: Read it Out Loud
This is great advice for anything you write, but it’s essential for dialogue. Reading your conversations aloud will help you catch lines that sound out of character, cheesy, or nonsensical. Even though most readers are reading silently, you want your writing to have a steady rhythm in their heads.
Some of you may not like this part, but you really ought to read it out loud to an audience. Or better yet, have them read it out loud for you (I had my brother do this once. It was embarrassing but very helpful). It’s a lot easier to be critical of your work when you are immediately accountable to someone and you can see their reaction right away.
6: Give Your Characters a Voice
Each character should have a unique way of speaking. This is one of the best ways to identify who is speaking without excessive tags. You should still make it clear through narration and style who the speaker is, but if you’re doing your job right your readers will start to get a feel for each character and they’ll be able to guess who is speaking from the dialogue itself.
I once wrote a British character and I was so excited to use words like “love” and other gag-worthy english slang. But I realized halfway through I needed to do a lot more research to determine what kind of accent he would use, different names for the same objects between British and American english, etc. There’s so much more that goes into a pattern of speech than a few lazy slang words here and there.
The same can be said for any character, whether they’re foreign or not. People have unique phrases and cadences that mark their speech, so depending on who your character is as a person, their dialogue will sound different than the protagonist. If it doesn’t, you’ve got a problem.
Keep At It
That’s all for now. The deeper you get into writing, the more you’ll be able to experiment as you create unforgettable characters. But if you implement the six tips I’ve given you here, I promise your writing will improve drastically.
If you want to read more about using simple “said” tags, check out this blog post. Otherwise, go find your happy place and write!
The romance plot is one of the main things that can draw readers to a story. While romance isn’t everything, it can make or break your novel even as a subplot. Some books do not include a romance plot at all, and that’s great. But if you find yourself writing one, it can be the easiest part of your process or the biggest let-down. Readers want to get invested in your character’s relationships, but you can alienate them if you don’t handle it correctly.
I’ve had a lot of experience with romance plots, so I’ve compiled a few tips below to help you write a killer one. Check it out:
Wait Until the Last Second
In any novel, but especially if the primary plot of your novel is a romance plot, you want to put it off for as long as possible. In Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Elizabeth don’t get together until the final pages. Same thing in really any Austen book, and she’s an expert on romance plots.
Getting your characters together too soon will kill the tension and readers will not feel as invested. This is especially tricky in a series because you might have already had your characters get together in book one. Unless you have a great idea in mind for how to keep the tension going, do not let your romantic pair get together until the very end.
We’ve all fallen in love with a couple only to see them break up in the sequel. This can be poignant if done on purpose, but most often it’s done because the writer didn’t have a clear plan for the rest of the series (or they didn’t plan on there being a series in the first place) and found themselves in need of a new tension builder.
At the beginning of your novel, you set up questions. Will the hero defeat the villain? Will the protagonist get the guy/girl?Can this family ever be close again after tragedy? You wouldn’t put the climax halfway through your book, so why would you solve the romance before the end of the story? Let it breathe. Let it linger.
Obstacles, obstacles, obstacles
Depending on the genre and setting of your book, your obstacles will look different. In a contemporary romance plot without a larger action plot, the obstacles will largely take the form of your character’s shortcomings and other people/entities/policies ge
Their own shortcomings
The first place you should start with obstacles is the characters’ personal shortcomings. Is he/she slow to open up to people? Are they selfish? Is she struggling to choose between work and romance? Whatever the flaws are, take time to explore them and look at them from different angles. How do these flaws effect the romantic prospects? How do they effect non-romantic relationships? Your character’s flaws will bleed into every aspect of their lives, so don’t even think about a resolution until you’ve fully described the problem.
Other people in the way
Whether an ex, a protective mother/father, a societal construct, or other, there are plenty of people you can stick between your romantic leads to keep them apart. Try to be creative with the one because it can get tired pretty fast. The jealous ex is a little overdone, but you can revive anything with the right spin. Think of ways to make it unique in your story. Maybe the hero is an orphan and he/she doesn’t have time for romance because they have to play parent to their sibling(s). Not all obstacles have to be antagonists. Let real life get in the way, too.
If your romance is a subplot, don’t forget that the characters have bigger problems than who they’re dating. Romance happens during tragedy/action, but it won’t be fulfilled in the middle of a battle. That would be irrational. Let your characters be distracted by the bigger picture. This will slow down their romance because they don’t have enough consecutive time to think about it.
Geography
This one’s especially helpful in a series because you can keep up the tension without destroying your romance plot with a breakup. Aragorn spends the majority of The Lord of the Rings away from Arwen, so they couldn’t physically be together even if they didn’t have to contend with her father or her immortality. Aragorn’s got bigger problems to deal with, but you get the picture. There are tons of different things that can stand between your characters, and most of them are better than a breakup.
Timing
Sometimes your characters both know more or less how they feel about each other, but they can’t seal the deal with that romantic kiss or love scene because the timing just doesn’t match up. She’s about to tell him she loves him, but then someone interrupts. He’s going to reach for her hand, but she doesn’t see him and she turns away before he can. The near-miss is a very effective way to build tension when the flavor of your romance plot is sweeter and more subtle.
Play with this one even if there are bigger obstacles in their way, because nothing gets readers pumped like reading that almost touch. It keeps them interested in the pairing and they’ll be rooting for your characters to get together because they’ve spent so much time getting so close.
Make it Multifaceted
Gone are the days where He-Man rescues a faceless princess from the dragon and they pop out a million heirs. Readers have always wanted a deeply cultivated romance, but these days the simply won’t tolerate a romance that lessens either character. Don’t let the romance define them or your readers might reject it. And make sure you don’t let either character become a device of romance instead of a fully-realized person with multiple motivations and personality traits.
But what do I mean by multifaceted?
There’s nothing to say romance can’t be important to your characters–especially if your romance plot takes the center stage. It’s perfectly okay for a character to desire love. But real people want more than just one thing, so your characters should, too. Or, if they start with a single, tunnel-visioned desire, they should learn there’s more to life than that one thing.
Along with other desires, your characters should have multiple reasons to start a romance. Sexual tension is great, but it’s not everything. Give them a lot of complimentary traits that make it feel destined (but don’t be too obvious about it. Yuck). Add dimension to those traits by making some of them more subtle than others. Your character doesn’t have to think about every single thing they like about the romantic interest in explicit detail, and you don’t even have to tell your readers about it. It’s all in the details.
The Bottom Line
Waiting is the best part. Readers want to find fulfillment in their novels, and in a romance plot, fulfillment is earned by taking your time and building complexity into every aspect of your story and your characters. Give the audience as many reasons to cheer for them as you can so that when the romance is finally fulfilled, your readers are on the edge of their seats.
Let your readers crave that connection and refuse to give it to them until the last second, if at all. Sometimes the best romances are the ones that never resolve.
Feel free to comment your questions and your favorite romances below. See you next time!
If you’re an aspiring writer (and if you’ve told anyone about it), you’ve probably been told at least 10,000 times by now not to quit your day job. Haha. Hilarious. So original.
Yes, writing is a tough industry. No, you probably won’t turn into a sensation with your first book, or ever. It’s a lot harder than some people might lead you to believe, but it’s also less impossible than your critics will tell you.
I finished my first serious manuscript in college. It was something like 40 or 50,000 words and it was complete trash (but even trash is GREAT for experience). I re-wrote the whole thing line by line (and I didn’t edit nearly enough. Don’t be like me). I have since reenvisioned that story and re-written it at least four times. Right now I’m on draft one of concept 4 or 5.
Fast forward to 2018 when I wrote two more manuscripts (new books, though). The first was 75k and the second was 98k. That’s at least 300k that I wrote without a plan to market myself as a writer.
Can you spell stupid? I can. Times 300k.
Anyway, like all things, writing takes a lot of hard work and time. But I’d like to save you some heartache with the following 10 tips I wish I would have known before I started writing my first book. Trust me, you’re not going to want to pass on these.
Tip #1: Writing is a Business
When I first dreamed of being an author, I pictured a solitary cabin, preferably in the mountains, where I would stare at the wilderness and sit by the fire in between crafting my masterpiece. That’s not what it’s like at all.
Becoming a writer is just like starting any other business. You are an entrepreneur more than anything else—especially if you want to do it full time. The day you decide you want to be a writer is the day you need to start marketing yourself online. It’s never too late to start, but the earlier the better.
Do you really need to put in all that fuss?
Yes. Why? Because someday you’re going to want to pitch your manuscript to an agent. And when you go to write your first query letter, you don’t want to write “I have no experience and no following, but will you please buy my book?”
Getting an agent is hard enough as it is. Having a blog, website, or social media following in your niche (preferably all three) will be invaluable to you when it comes time to sell yourself to agents and publishers.
What if I want to self-publish?
Great. You still need followers to buy your books. Build your email list and write your blog ASAP so that when you have a book, you have a built-in audience to read it. I promise all the hard work will pay off, but you need to put in the time for your future.
Feeling overwhelmed? Here are the basics:
Start a website
Do it as soon as possible, and buy a real domain. It’s worth it to have a professional site. If you have to start out on a free website, you absolutely should. But buy that domain (especially if you want to keep your name) as soon as possible. Domains disappear fast and your name may not be there when you come back.
You can use your personal accounts for this if you want, but I recommend starting a separate account for your business. Having a presence online is not an option in today’s social climate. You can’t be a writer in a cabin in the woods. You have to learn how to use social media to your advantage.
Follow publishers, other bloggers, and agents online. It’s a great way to do a little research every day and get a feel for your industry instead of doing it all at once when you start selling your writing.
The most important thing is to think of it as a business. Your attitude will have a huge effect on your decisions, and therefore your success. Treat it like a job and take it seriously from day one. Writing can be a lonely job, so it’s important for you to take it seriously or you won’t have what it takes when the going gets tough.
Tip #2: Your Friends and Family Might Not Be Supportive
One of the biggest reasons that writing is so lonely? People who aren’t writers usually don’t get it. It’s easy for people to respect an established author like Rowling or King, but tell them you want to be an author and they’ll look at you like you just said you want to sit on the couch mooching off the system for the rest of your life and never contributing to society.
It’s not that they don’t care (well, sometimes it is). But generally, the people closest to you want to see you succeed, and they know this is a tough business. Because they don’t want to see you fail, they may subconsciously or directly dissuade you from writing.
I don’t say any of this to bash your friends or to discourage you, but I wasn’t prepared for how much my friends would turn out to be…rather unsupportive.
My advice? Don’t tell anyone you want to write (other than your fellow writers, of course) until you have something to show for it. There is scientific evidence to support the idea that keeping your goals to yourself will make you more likely to achieve them. It’s hard not to talk about it with the people you care about, but in hindsight, I wish I would have kept it to myself. Food for thought.
Tip #3: Enter All the Contests
This, more than anything else on this list, was my greatest mistake. I wish I had taken writing seriously enough to enter contests back in middle school and high school when I had more time and a guaranteed place to live. But it’s never too late to start!
There are so many free contests you can enter which is hands-down the best thing you can do for your career. Getting published is a HUGE advantage in every way and submitting your work will give you tremendous experience even if you don’t win. It’s also the best way to learn how to write for an audience which will improve your other writing endeavors.
What if I don’t get accepted?
You won’t most of the time. But it’s never too early to get used to rejection. I had a professor at UVU who said he aimed for 100 rejections a year because that’s how he knew he was submitting enough. “No” is a word you’re going to hear a lot as a writer and you need to build a tough skin so you can keep trying when you inevitably face rejection.
At the end of the day you can sit on “what-ifs” until you’re 80 years old, but you should be asking yourself “why not” instead. Why not give it a try? There’s no such thing as wasted time if you learn from your failures.
Tip #4: Bulk Up Your Savings
Okay, so you should do this anyway. But starting your own business requires a lot of input. That means cash money, my dudes. Not only is it in your best interest to start a website with a real (as in paid) domain, but you’re going to need to go to writer’s conferences as often as possible. And you might even consider some paid marketing campaigns to get your brand out there.
What’s a writer’s conference?
At a writer’s conference, authors, writers, agents, and publishers meet to discuss books, topics, industry, and so forth. A lot of them will have guest speakers and classes you can take to improve your craft, and it’s a great way to meet people. Networking is SO HUGE for writers and you will do a lot for your career by meeting these people in person. If you’re an aspiring writer you can get great tips and meet people who can help you build a writer’s community. And if you have a manuscript ready, you can pitch it to agents in person (so much better than sending a query letter. They get hundreds a day).
If you want to look into conferences, here’s a great resource for you. There are also free conferences every so often, but the best ones are going to cost you. I promise it’s worth it. There is no good reason to make it any harder for yourself to start a business. Take all the help you can get and invest in your future. Take writing classes before you go to college (if you can afford a formal education, which I know is not always possible). Writing in your basement is decent practice, but it’s not as valuable as getting tips from professionals. And there’s an added benefit to classes because you have someone who has to read your work and give you feedback.
The other reason you need money? Check out tip #3:
Tip #5 Get Yourself an Editor
I don’t care how great of a writer you are. You will miss things in your own work. Your brain will literally skip over misspelled words. Beyond that, you will keep sentences and ideas that seem important to you but that will hold your work back. Beta readers are great, and they can give you awesome feedback for your plot and character reception. But the only person who can give you professional feedback that will improve your manuscript is a professional.
Whether you want to look at self-publishing or go the traditional route, you will want an editor. Self-published books have come a long way and readers have high expectations. If your book has spelling and/or formatting errors, you will get negative reviews that will haunt your book sales for all of time.
Isn’t that what a publisher is for?
Yes and no. If your book gets picked up, the publishing house will almost certainly hook you up with an editor to make sure your book is the best it can be. But in order to get a publisher, you have to get an agent, and literary agents are inundated with thousands of queries a day from aspiring authors. You need every advantage you can get, which is why I suggested entering contests. Agents are somewhat forgiving for editing mistakes if your story grips them, but too many mistakes in your sample will turn them off right away.
Picture a query letter where you can tell the agent that you’ve been published in x magazine/journal, you have a blog with 20k followers, AND your work has been professionally edited. Your letter just shot to the top of the query pile. Here are some great tips on finding the right editor when the time comes.
Tip #6: Don’t Limit Yourself to Just Books
It’s a romantic notion to think you can be the next J.K. Rowling or Stephen King and get famous for writing books, but that’s the best-case scenario. I’m not saying you should shoot for the stars, because you have to have a vision for your future and you should set your sights as high as you want. But in the current climate, you can’t get away with writing the occasional book and hope it will take off. You won’t make it as a one-trick pony, even if your trick is seriously awesome.
Consider starting a blog (meta, right?). If you do want to create a website, use my link to get yourself a discount from Bluehost. For the record, I do get paid by Bluehost if your sign up through my link, but it’s at no cost to you and you can do the same thing after you sign up.
Anyway, blogging is a great way to get started as a writer. But there are plenty of traditional jobs for writers that can help you get paid for your talents while you work on your books. The point is, writing takes a lot of input and it can take years to start making real money. You can only benefit from throwing out as many possibilities as possible. You can always drop the things that don’t work for you, but you’re more likely to be successful if you try as many things as you can.
Tip #7: You Don’t Have to Live in New York
This one comes with a caveat. Because if you want to work in publishing or something, you should definitely move to New York or Chicago where those industries live. It can also help you on the networking side because the best networking happens in person, so if you’re living in New York and putting yourself in events where there are publishers and agents, you’re that much more likely to build connections.
As we all know, New York is hella expensive. And those tips you’re making at Starbucks won’t get you an apartment in one of the most expensive
Tip #8: Be Careful What You Give Away For Free
BTW, Jerry Maguire is a classic and you gotta watch it.
Any exposure is good, right?
Wrong.
It’s great to get a following. So if you decide to start a fiction blog where you post stories or even books, make sure you only give away the stuff you don’t intend to get paid for, ever. I never say never, but an agent/publisher is not going to take a risk on your book if thousands of people have already read it for free. Who’s going. to buy it when they publish it?
Now, this is different from contests. You should absolutely submit your work to magazines, journals, and whatnot. But sites like Wattpad or Critters that allow you to get your work online can damage your ability to sell that work later on. Sites like these are great for building your community with other writers, and I’m not saying you should never use them. I’m just saying you should be very careful about what you put out there and make smart decisions for your career. Remember, if you’re good at something, never do it for free.
Tip #9: Self-Publishing is Not as Great as it Sounds
For a minute there, I was fully prepared to self-publish through Amazon. The kindle publisher is super helpful and easy to use, and I figured I’d take home more of the profits without a publisher/agent taking most of my cut.
The main reason I wanted to self-publish? It’s shocking to see the numbers for traditionally published authors. Most authors make little over $1 per book. Scary, right? I was having a Robin Hood moment and I couldn’t stand the idea of someone else getting rich off my hard work. Lots of people will try to scare you into self-publishing with numbers like this, but take a moment to think about it:
Publishers take a big cut because they take a big risk in publishing your work. As you’ll find out if you follow tip #3, marketing is expensive. A publisher has to pay print costs for your novel as well as advertising, and there’s no guarantee they’ll make that money back. Remember when I said writing is a business? It’s their business, too, and you can’t expect them to take care of you without taking care of themselves.
I have nothing against indie authors, and if you feel it’s the right course for you then you should definitely self-publish. But it’s not right for everyone, and it’s a lot more intensive than it sounds. In this scenario, you take on all the risk. Any marketing you choose to do will come out of your own pocket, so if you can’t afford the ads, people are less likely to find your book.
Tip #10: It Takes Time
The main reason I suggest doing all the things above is that it takes time to make a living as a writer. Entrepreneurs cycle through multiple business ideas before they find the one that sticks, and writing is no different. I knew it would be hard to get published. But knowing that and living it are two different things. When I got my first round of rejections for my first manuscript, I was crushed—even though I went into it knowing I would be rejected more often than I’d be accepted.
The important thing to remember is that there’s a lot of luck involved in any business, but especially in books. The timing has to be right for an agent to fall in love with your book and sell it to a publisher. That blog you’re writing needs time to build up an audience and it will take months (at least) to get people listening to you. Your freelance business needs time to acquire clients and get reviews. Whatever you’re doing, you need to be patient. You also need to have multiple things going at once so that you can budget your waiting time and get a head start on the success part.
Stay Positive
I wish someone had told me all of this before I got started, but all hope is not lost. No matter where you’re at in your writing journey, you can take these steps today and start building your career as a writer. Have courage, have patience, and have fun.
See you next time! Post your questions and thoughts below, and have a wonderful week.
You guys. I cannot praise An Ember in the Ashes enough. While I didn’t discover it until 2019, four years after it was published, I’ve never been so obsessed with anything in my life. I devoured the first three books in no time, and I am highly anticipating the release of the fourth and final book in December 2020. If you haven’t discovered this author/series, you’re welcome.
The Plot
Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
From the Hardcover edition.
The Review
I live for YA fantasies. But I’ve tried so many of them and there are quite a few that didn’t grip me. When I started Ember for the first time (I’ve since read it through two more times), I literally couldn’t put it down. I lost sleep, I shirked all my responsibilities, it was bad. But the good kind of bad that made me want to do it again.
Full disclosure, this series switches perspectives and is told in first-person present tense. It hasn’t always been a popular choice, though it’s growing increasingly common in YA. It can be dangerous to switch perspectives because you risk alienating the audience if they like one perspective more than another, but Sabaa Tahir has such a handle on her characters that it’s pretty seamless once you get into it. I honestly loved every character she introduced and I was excited to see their perspectives as the story played out.
Plot
I’ll start with the plot because there are intricacies in this book that I’m still unraveling. Sabaa Tahir is an own voices author and her mythology is well thought out. You can find out more about her on her website (Do it. She’s SO cool). Anyway, she has a clear structure in mind and it doesn’t feel like the plot meanders at any point which is always nice, especially in a post Game of Thrones world. There are a lot of moving pieces but it’s clear how much work she put into the planning because it all unfolds with great pacing and nice reveals.
Sabba is so funny, guys. Follow her on Twitter
There is an art to delivering information, in terms of how and when an author chooses to tell readers anything. It’s hard to talk about this aspect without spoilers, but just know that Sabaa Tahir is an expert and it was so fun to analyze the choices she made throughout.
Romance
Okay, so I can’t wait anymore to talk about the romance. Reader beware, nothing comes easy for Sabaa Tahir’s characters. She loves to make things difficult for them, and she has a special talent for squashing their happiness. But it only made me that much more invested in their stories. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, because it would literally be a crime, but you can see where it’s going in the description. The romance in the book is a sub-plot which I LIVE FOR because I’ve grown out of my love-is-everything stage. It’s integral to the story, but it doesn’t steal the importance of the major plot. Even still, it had me SWOONING.
Characters
By far, the best thing in this book is the characters. Laia, Elias, Helene, The Commandant, The Nightbringer, etc. There are so many people for you to meet, and each of them comes with a well of depth and backstory. None of the cast falls flat – so much so that one of the characters I hated at the beginning of the book became a favorite by the end. Each relationship is given time to progress, along with solidly built backstories for the ones that existed before the start of the book.
The Gist? This Book Rocks
Finally, I have to praise Sabba Tahir’s style. While I was reading I had to stop to jot down quotes and other things I noticed about her authorial choices. I had to stop when I came across unique descriptions like “hungry air” grasping at Elias’s legs. SUCH a treat to read her powerful voice. And each narrator has their own style, so it never feels like an author narrating for a character. It really feels like you’re in their heads.
I love reading (obviously). But after 12 years of formal education + 4 more years in college, it can sometimes sound like a chore. This series reminded me that READING IS SO MUCH FUN. I’ll probably start the series again when I finish this post because it’s that good. Find An Ember in the Ashes on Amazon and go read it immediately.
See you next time! Don’t forget to drop your thoughts in the comments, and happy reading.
We Were Liars is a suspense novel that follows the story of Cadence Sinclair and her wealthy family as she tries to piece together what happened to her during summer fifteen at the family’s private island. The novel deals with themes of privilege, self-acceptance, and family competition as Cadence confronts the damage of wealth on her family’s relationships and the reality of consequences.
The Review
Since this is a suspense novel, I won’t be giving anything away. Lockhart writes with such cleverness that it would be a crime to spoil such a wonderful book.
The first thing I have to compliment is the writing style. We Were Liars is unlike anything I’ve ever read, and the narrative voice pulled me right into the Sinclair family’s wealth and status though I have no experience with those things in real life. Cadence narrates the novel with such an intimate personality that I felt as if I truly knew her at the end of the read. I haven’t read any of Lockhart’s other works yet, but it seems to me in this one that she has a wonderful hold on voice.
Suspense novels are not my typical read, but I came across this one on Google when I was looking for a new YA and I have to say, it blew me out of the water. I read the whole thing over the course of two or three days and every time I had to take a break I couldn’t wait to get back to reading. By the time I hit the climax I was so invested that I finished the rest of it in a single sitting. I then immediately called my brother in tears because it was such an intense experience. My crying was totally nonsensical, of course, but it was so well executed that it felt transformative to read.
The most enjoyable part of this book, apart from the stellar plot, was the language. The way Lockhart describes her characters is quite unique, and the language is so immersive I found myself losing time while reading this book.
The theme of privilege was strong throughout and I thought it had very intricate relationships and politics as the siblings squabbled over the family fortune. The dynamic in a wealthy family is not completely foreign, but money and power add unique struggles that Lockhart deals with in both sympathetic and critical ways. Simply put, by the end of the novel I had a lot to think about.
The one thing I will say about the plot that is not spoiler-y is that this novel does exactly what you want a suspense novel to do: I was shocked when I reached the climax, but as I looked back I could see all the bread crumbs that were leading the story to that point. Any surprising elements did their job with expertise, but they didn’t seem out of the blue.
I highly recommend this read. See it on Kindle or Goodreads for more information.
Boy, do I love archetypes. How does anyone write stories without them? Answer: they don’t (at least not good ones).
In case anyone is unfamiliar, an archetype is simply the framework for a character’s behaviors and beliefs. There are twelve major archetypes in literature as established by Carl Jung. He was a pretty interesting guy, and you can read more about him here if you’re interested in psychology. But for now, I’m going to stick to his connection to literature.
Now, you may have been told that archetypes are tired or that you need to have a fresh take on everything you write, which is true to an extent. But archetypes exist for a reason, and there’s no good reason to steer clear of them. They can help you develop more depth and background in your characters, giving them a more solid foundation than if you simply threw some ideas on the page without checking to see if they flow. The fact is, readers enjoy having their expectations met. And archetypes are one of the first building blocks of that process.
Why Should You Use Archetypes?
Have you ever read/watched/listened to a story where the characters made decisions that didn’t seem to fit their personality? For me, Jaime Lannister in the HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones comes to mind. By the end of his arc, he was making decisions that were totally out of character. As a result, many viewers found his conclusion upsetting and nonsensical. No author wants to hear that about their characters, am I right?
That being said, some authors (they’re called pantsers) talk a lot about how characters create themselves, but that’s not exactly true. Even if your writing style is very fluid and you allow for in-the-moment changes based on inspiration, characters have a finite set of traits that will lead them to make decisions. These personality combinations are so innate (as established by Carl Jung and other psychologists) that it can sometimes feel like the character is acting autonomously, but in truth, they are acting based on a specific code or set of morals that come directly from their archetype.
Don’t fret if you want your characters to feel spontaneous. Archetypes help to give you a basis for your character, but that doesn’t mean they’re already written for you. Just like two real-life people with the same personality type (16 Personalities) can have radically different dispositions and ideas, not every character with the same archetype will be exactly the same. This is where it becomes important for writers to have a fresh take on a classic character type. You don’t want the archetype to be so obvious that you’re readers are bored, but you do want them to be able to fit your character to an archetype should they go looking for one.
Archetype 1: The Warrior/Hero
The warrior is the classic hero archetype. This character’s main desire is to unseat the antagonistic force in their story, whether the antagonist is a person, a system, a government, etc. The warrior comes equipped with certain strengths (either mental or physical) and generally has a fear of failure. They can also suffer from inflated ego due to whatever strengths they begin with.
The key to making a dimensional warrior character is to remember their weakness. No one wants to read about a hero who is fully equipped to defeat the antagonist from the first moment we meet them. Supply your character with ample weaknesses, both physical and mental/emotional. If your hero is an excellent swordsman, consider giving them a weak position in battle or force them to fight with their non-dominant hand. If your character’s strength is emotional (Luke’s biggest strength is his enduring hope), put them in a position to lose it (say Vader didn’t come back in the end).
In the Disney version of the Greek story, Hercules has a number of weaknesses because of his desire to belong (he is a combination hero and orphan archetype. I’ll talk more about combinations in a dedicated post). Although he has god-like strength, he lacks the invincibility of a god. Aragorn is a terrific warrior, but he’s running away from his true calling. There are many ways to make the hero stand out, but it does take a little more work than some of the other archetypes because this is the most common protagonist. Run your hero by some of your friends and mentors before you nail down their arc.
Archetype 2: The Child/Innocent
The child or innocent archetype is the character you could never have an ill feeling toward because they are too pure for this world. This character wants to be good and remains untouched by evil. They are characterized by their kindness, sincerity, and optimism. As a result, they tend to be naive, helpless, and extremely vulnerable.
Sometimes people try to make a protagonist out of this archetype which is where it gets tricky. I never say never, but the innocent tends to be pretty stale for all their goodness. Without George to combat Lennie’s innate innocence, Of Mice and Men would be a very boring, albeit tragic, story. Now, if you want to combine the innocent with another archetype and show how the protagonist/antagonist used to be innocent before the outside world breached the safety of their walls, you can certainly turn them into a bigger player. Otherwise, this archetype is best kept for friends and side characters.
Even in the case of a side character, it’s important to give the innocent a unique quality that endears them to the audience and makes readers feel fiercely protective. Don’t let your innocent be boring just because they don’t have that struggle for good and evil like other archetypes. Dory and Lennie both have mental illnesses which makes their protection feel paramount to the hero as well as the audience. If your innocent is neurotypical, try giving them a unique passion or love. And then consider yanking it away from them.
Archetype 3: The Orphan
The Orphan just wants to belong. This is a popular archetype because most people can relate to feeling outcasted at some point or another. Even someone with a reasonable family and a good number of friends can feel a connection to an orphaned character because it’s about the feeling of being unwanted more than anything else. One of the great fears of an orphan archetype is being let down or finding their effort fruitless.
This archetype comes with a wealth of backstory options and can be especially fun to craft because they have so many weaknesses. The key to making a decent orphan character is to remember not to make them stale. Just because someone is an orphan doesn’t mean they have to be benevolent. The orphan can be humble and kind because of their “lost” nature, but they can also become jaded—especially if the belonging they seek is taken away or seemingly impossible to find. It’s important to give this archetype a unique response to their surroundings. Make a character who is boisterous and friendly but secretly harbors a deep-seated fear of abandonment (think Jack in Newsies). Or make them quiet and brooding with enough negative traits that they could easily become a villain if they choose the wrong path.
Archetype 4: The Creator
The creator’s central desire is to bring their vision to life. These characters are eccentrics and out-of-the-box thinkers who see the world in a unique way because of their artistic gifts. Creators can get themselves into trouble because they lack the foresight to see where their artistic endeavors will lead them.
The key to making a good creator character is to focus first on their one true vision and then work your way down into the events of this particular story. What is your creator’s central dream? In Jurassic Park, John Hammond’s dream is to see the dinosaurs he loves so dearly brought back to life. Alan Grant shares his love of dinosaurs and is at first willing to look at the possibility of a dinosaur park, where Ian Malcolm is a skeptic from the beginning. Surround your creator type with people who understand parts of their vision as well as people who want to see it fail. This will give your character more depth and you can let the audience examine the validity of the dream and the pros and cons of reaching it.
The creator can make a stellar villain or anti-hero should you decide to twist the vision into something sinister. In the case of a creator villain, they can either start out with a sinister vision or see their artistic dream become evil as a direct result of the opposition they face throughout the story. It’s a great way to make a sympathetic antagonist.
Archetype 5: The Caregiver
The caregiver lives to help others. They tend to have softer personalities, though they can be fierce when they need to protect the people they love. Caregivers are selfless, loyal, and compassionate. They feel things deeply and they always put others ahead of themselves. As a result, they are easy to take advantage of and sometimes lose sight of their own needs.
As for unique characters in this archetype, it’s really about playing them off the people around them. Samwise Gamgee is selfless and compassionate, but his particular relationship with Frodo makes him seem all the more real and relatable. His easygoing nature holds through most of the story, but he surprises the audience with his tenacity when he follows Frodo into the river, then again at Osgiliath, and finally at Mount Doom when he takes on Shelob to save his friend and carries him up the mountain. Sam’s strength is uncovered, tested, and developed over the course of the whole story which is what makes him interesting.
Don’t feel like your caregiver has to be a good guy, either. The evil side has caregivers, too. This is especially true when the caregiver in question has a martyr complex because that brings in a whole new level of selfishness and confusion to their protective acts.
Archetype 6: The Joker
The joker, not to be confused with the Batman villain, is a genial character who just wants to have fun. Their main goal is to enjoy life and they want to put a positive spin on whatever they can. But they can serve other purposes, too. The joker often provides insight that the other characters miss, whether for comic reasons or because their light attitude allows them to see things that others miss.
There’s nothing wrong with some comic relief, but a good joker character has moments of depth, too. Genie is incredibly funny, but he also serves as a mentor-type character, giving Aladdin some much-needed advice. Likewise, both Merry and Pippin have moments of extreme bravery or understanding as they delve into the action of The Lord of the Rings. Your joker can have similar qualities, making them valuable friends to have around in times of crisis. Just make sure they have fully rounded desires along with their levity and easygoing natures.
Archetype 7: The Mentor
All 12 of these archetypes are classic, but the mentor is like a gold classic; this character never goes out of style. The mentor takes the form of a wise character with a lot of experience under their belt. They are filled with knowledge and, as a result, sometimes struggle over how much they should share with the rest of the world (especially where there’s magic involved). The mentor can come in various forms of willingness to help the main character, but they always have a lot to offer.
The key to making a great mentor is to build them off your main character. Yoda’s early refusal to teach Luke has a huge effect on the rest of his training. The thing Luke needs most to save Vader is hope, but when he first meets Yoda he has a habit of giving up too quickly. The Jedi training Yoda offers is only half the benefit; the real skill he teaches Luke is endurance. When writing your mentor, make sure they have something essential to offer the protagonist beyond physical skills. Craft these two characters to have subtle and obvious give and take, and you’ll get readers invested.
Archetype 8: The Magician
The magician, unlike the mentor, has a penchant for world domination. This doesn’t always mean subjugating other people, but it does mean this character wants to uncover the secrets of the universe. The magician is highly intelligent, observant, and in some stories has literal magic. They suffer from an inflated ego and tend to be power-hungry as a result of their prowess.
Magicians can be off-putting if you’re not careful. The secret here is similar to villains. You want to give them a few redeeming qualities to balance their ego-centric qualities. It’s also important to focus on their interpersonal relationships. Loki’s relationship with Thor in Ragnarok does a lot for his character arc. He’s not just the God of Mischief anymore; he’s finally a good brother. Make sure you put a lot of thought into how this character interacts with the world around them and balance them with another character who can call them on their bullshit when necessary.
Archetype 9: The Ruler
The ruler can be benevolent or evil (or somewhere in the middle), depending on their role in your story. The nice guy ruler rarely starts in power and when they do, they don’t stay there for long. Benevolent kings are killed off early or we spend most of the story waiting for the right person to ascend. More often we see an evil dictator in power and the plot revolves around defeating them. This is because power tends to corrupt people and there’s not really a good reason to tell a story about a good king who did his job and everyone was happy.
When trying to make a unique ruler, I recommend writing down their core goal as well as their limits. If your ruler is evil, is there anything they won’t do? Tywin Lannister is a great example because he’s pretty much despicable in every way until we see him interact with Arya Stark. Of course, he doesn’t know who she is, but he’s a chill guy when he doesn’t think it interferes with his plans. Interactions like this offer depth to characters who otherwise fall prey to boring cliches. If you really want to make a unique ruler, find a way to make their ousting (in the case of a good guy) especially heinous. In the case of an evil ruler, give them just enough redeeming qualities that the audience accidentally roots for them sometimes—or at least respect their position.
Archetype 10: The Rebel
The rebel archetype is independent—sometimes to a fault. This character sees the flaws in the system and has an innate desire to break the rules as a result. Maybe they break the rules because they had an absentee or overbearing caregiver. Maybe they believe/see that freedom has been taken away by a governing agency and they want to restore free will. Whatever the reason, this archetype is very defiant and finds it difficult to trust others.
The important thing to remember here is that no one is a rule breaker just for the hell of it. When writing this archetype the first thing you should do is write them a code: what line is this character unwilling to cross? Are they protective of children? Sensitive to true love? The individual’s code will likely be different than polite society, so don’t be afraid to play with that.
This archetype comes with a lot of freedom because it is easy for these characters to take on villainous traits. Let your rebel make mistakes. Let them be right sometimes even though other characters criticize them for breaking the rules. Make things muddy so the audience has to decide who is more right. In my opinion, the rebel is one of the easiest archetypes to make your own because there is so much room for personalization.
Archetype 11: The Lover
The lover’s primary goal is, you guessed it, to find love. They seek meaningful relationships from family, friends, and lovers. This archetype comes with a lot of emotional intelligence and dedication. They will fight to the last breath for those they love, often culminating in a great act of sacrifice. As a result, they tend to suffer from tunnel vision and they bruise easily (emotionally, that is).
My best advice for the lover is to remember to give them a personality outside the object of their affection. Peeta has spent years in love with Katniss, but he does have goals and wants outside of her. And he’s only willing to put up with so much of her B. S. before he stands up for himself. Give your lover a backbone and remember to flesh them out as a fully realized individual instead of making them entirely dependent on the love interest. Pining lovers bore easily.
Archetype 12: The Seductress
The seductress is one of the most misunderstood and misused archetypes. This person is characterized by oozing charisma and generally has a total disregard for morality. This can be a strength and a hindrance. The seductress often has an underlying desire to take back power or love that was stolen from them.
The biggest problem you’ll face with this archetype is a cliched backstory. It makes a lot of sense for the seductress to be a prostitute or a slave, but you need to be careful to give them their own identity. In Hercules, Meg is indebted to Hades and therefore has to do his bidding. But the story doesn’t write her off as some slut who uses her body to get what she wants (bodies can definitely be tools, but there’s always more to the story). Meg is a character who we know loved somebody deeply in the past. She also shows a distaste for Hades and often tries to do the right thing in spite of owing her soul to the god of death. The seductress backstory doesn’t have to be tragic—maybe he/she acts as a temptress for a different reason. Just be sure to give us that reason.
The Bottom Line
Archetypes aren’t there to box you in. They exist because they’re relatable, and it’s a great starting point in character development. The basic guidelines for these archetypes won’t make fully fleshed out characters, but they will give you enough direction to design characters that your readers want to get to know. I highly recommend going through your main character list and figuring out their archetype before you start writing. It’s a lot harder to go back and fix a nonsensical character than it is to just set them in the right direction in the first place.
