Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Struggling to create real conflict in your fiction?

Let’s look at some tips to help you to create believable conflict.

1. Try to make your characters’ conflicts stem from who they are

The most realistic conflicts between characters stem from who they are. The Odd Couple is my favorite example of this type of conflict. When Felix and Oscar live together they’re so different that conflict is guaranteed.

Have you watched any episodes of the long-running TV series, MASH? The series’ major conflicts came from the Korean war, but the characters were all in conflict too.

Most of the conflicts in your novel will be minor, but your major conflicts should be difficult or seemingly impossible to resolve.

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Writing a novel? Consider a series

Let’s look at some tips on how to get inspired to write a series.

1. Write a series: perhaps you’ve already started

You may already have written the first novel (or short story) in your series.

Many bestselling series which are focused on a single character “grow” as the the character grows. However, you don’t need to write chronologically.

For example, bestselling author C.S. Forester published the novel The Happy Return, in which his naval hero Horatio Hornblower is already in command of a ship, in 1937. Forester didn’t publish the start of Hornblower’s naval career until 1950, with Mr. Midshipman Hornblower.

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Fiction: easy tricks to create characters readers love

Something important MUST be at stake in your story. If not literal life or death, then metaphorical life or death. When there’s nothing at stake, readers don’t care, and they won’t read.

For readers to care, your characters must care.

Let’s look at ways to create killers, saints, and idiots.

1. One-word characterization: “killer”, “saint”, “idiot”…

Here’s an easy trick you can use to plan, plot, and create characters for all fiction.

Start with a one-word characterization: he’s not (undecided name), he’s the killer. She isn’t (undecided name), she’s the saint.

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Things your novel absolutely must have

Here’s a checklist of essentials for your novel.

1. Thrills and spills: make bad stuff happen to your characters

You’ll grow to love your characters. However, if they have a wonderful time, your readers won’t. Put your characters into a tough situation at the start of your novel.

Then make the situation worse… and even worse.

2. The bad stuff must make sense

You can’t just dump a load of misery onto your characters. Put them into a bad situation and ensure that the “worse” happens because of your characters’ actions.

Avoid coincidences and random events. Everything must happen for a reason. The reasons are always something your characters did, to get out of their initial bad situation.

For example, let’s say your main character’s a wonderful guy. He gets fired, because he sees something he should not see. When he gets home, he has a fight with his wife. He heads to a hotel but forgets to take a change of clothes.

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Fiction series--write bestsellers: offering ends soon

You can create a series in any number of ways. Perhaps you've created a character you enjoy, or readers enjoy.

Arthur Conan Doyle saw potential in Sherlock Holmes. The character first appeared in a novel, A Study in Scarlet. Initially, the novel wasn't a huge success, but Doyle obviously liked the character, because he next wrote a series of short stories featuring Holmes and Watson. (In those bygone days, short stories sold to magazines, sometimes for huge amounts.)

J. K. Rowling planned a series of Harry Potter novels from the beginning.

On the other hand, readers loved James Bond. Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, it was such a success that he wrote ten more Bond novels, as well as a couple of collections of short stories to capitalize on readers who couldn't get enough of James Bond.

Today, James Bond has become a movie franchise.

The goal of every fiction author is a franchise, so my suggestion is: plan for a series as often as you can.

Our offering ends on June 19.

 

Writing career: get started as a fiction ghostwriter

WHY BECOME A GHOSTWRITER?

Writers have many reasons for taking ghostwriting gigs. Back in the day, I took the gigs for cash-flow and to build relationships.

My students who are writing part-time take ghostwriting gigs to build up their funds so they can buy great book cover designs and pay for editing their own novels. My students who are full-time writers take ghostwriting gigs because the money's excellent.

How excellent? If you’ve published your own novels, you can charge upwards of $8,000 for a single novel… Or even for an outline for a novel.

Whatever your reasons for ghostwriting, by the time you finish our new program you'll have the ability to accept as many (or as few) quality ghostwriting gigs as you choose.

After many requests, I've created a program any writer can use to build a satisfying and lucrative fiction ghostwriting career.

Learn more.

 

Plotting fiction: trouble with your plot?

Writing fiction: characters or plot?

Mystery editor Barbara Norville suggested:

“Whether you kick off with a character you like or with a plot idea that strikes a chord depends on the kind of person you are: people-oriented or idea oriented.”

I tend to go back and forth. If I’m writing a novel which is part of a series, I know that I’ll be writing about characters A, B, C, and D. I know I’ll need a plot for each novel which grows from that character’s problem and situation.

It’s best to be flexible: follow your intuition. You’ll change your mind many times while you’re planning, writing, and revising, and that’s OK.

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Fun fiction writing prompts: boost your creativity and imagination

Try starting a writing session with a writing prompt when you’re not in the mood to write, and want to procrastinate: I can write later. I should really make those phone calls and run a couple of loads of washing…

They’re useful when:

• You’re avoiding writing an important scene;
• Characters need a swift kick to make them interesting;
• Conjuring a plot twist is challenging.

Once you get into the habit of using writing prompts, you can create fun prompts whenever you need inspiration.

Let’s look at some prompts for the common situations above. Although I’ve included word counts, you can write as much or as little as you please.

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Writing a novel? One tip to make it easier

So, I decided to use my BuJo just for my novels, and it’s working like a charm. It’s helped me to stay confident that I’m on-track, no matter how many changes I make in first drafts.

How a bullet journal helps you to stay on track with your novel

Basically, your BuJo helps you to feel in control.

From The Bullet Journal Works Because It Soothes Your Panicky Mind:

“Your mind is precious real estate — most people can only pay attention to three or four things at a time — and transferring your to-dos frees up space for other, more immediate needs.”

When you’re writing a novel, there’s a lot to keep in your mind. Plot, characters, timeline — when you start tinkering with these elements, while you’re writing, the temptation is to go back, and write new scenes, and eliminate scenes. The impulse to fix it NOW is almost irresistible, yet resist it you must.

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The big secret of bestselling fiction: here's how to give readers what they want

Read a few readers’ reviews of bestsellers on Amazon. Bestselling authors get bad reviews too, with comments like:

• “Waste of money. Nothing happened…”
• “Why did this get so many 5 stars? The story dragged on… ”
• “Boring, couldn’t finish…”

In other words, the novels lacked conflict, that is: trouble. In this post, we looked at why Disney uses so many “old” stories, which are in the public domain:

…public domain materials offered two essential elements for bestselling fiction:

• An amazing story, which has stood the test of time;
• Emotion.

Classic, well-loved stories deliver trouble. So, when you struggle to make trouble for your characters, you’re in good company. Every author faces that challenge.

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Fiction: could you write a bestseller? 3 strategies to help

You may be wondering: what’s the difference between plot and story?

It’s a challenging concept and you can’t beat E. M. Forster’s famous quote. From ‘Aspects of E. M. Forster’s ‘Aspects of the Novel’:

… ‘The King died, and then the Queen died’ is a story; ‘the King died and then the Queen died of grief’ is a plot, (this) is based in the idea that plot is controlled by causality.

(E.M. Forster wrote the classic novel A Passenge To India; it’s held to be one of the best works of 20th century English fiction.)

I’m sure you’re thinking… ‘well, OK. I get story and plot… Sort of. But how do I apply story/ plot to my writing process?’

Here’s how. Story is what happens. Plot on the other hand, is cause and effect. Unlike real life, in fiction there are always reasons for actions and events; it’s your job as an author to identify them.

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Relying on fiction for your income? Write faster, starting today

If you’re relying on your fiction for income, you need to write faster

In addition to writing faster, you need to write strategically. That is, you need:

• A story question: once you’ve answered the question, the story is done;
• Engaging characters, who do the unexpected. I’ve been rereading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. When Gilbert attacks Frederick Lawrence, it’s both unexpected, and shocking.
• A list of essential scenes.

Let’s look at additional strategies to help.

1. Create a storyboard: put it where you can see it

Writing in scenes solves a multitude of writing challenges: it will help you to write faster, too.

Create a storyboard of upcoming scenes. (No need to storyboard your entire novel; create four to six scenes at a time, then write.)

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Fiction: create powerful, believable characters

Motivation: give your characters reasons for acting the way they do

If you read reviews on Amazon, you’ll often find readers complaining about characters’ motivations. “Then suddenly, for no reason…” “Just because it had to happen for the story…” etc.

In real life, people do weird things. Your story people can do weird things too, but you (and readers) must be clear on why your characters do what they do. This means that if you know that something is going to happen at the mid-point, you need to plant the seeds of that earlier.

You won’t always be able to do this in your first draft of course. However, it must be done. Every character needs clear motivation for acting the way he does.

Read the article.

 

Write a fiction bestseller: raid the public domain, as Disney does

I’ve been rereading Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, and wondered why variations of this novel have been used again and again, not only in movies and television, but also in books and plays.

Apropos of which, why does the public domain offer such rich source material? Some 50 Disney Movies Are Based On The Public Domain. The movies include Alice in Wonderland (of course), and Frozen, Disney’s take on Hans Christian Anderson’s story, The Snow Queen.

Film makers and authors raid public domain materials, and often craft bestsellers from them. Could you do it?

Public domain riches: could they help you to craft a bestseller?

After thinking about it, I realized that public domain materials offered two essential elements for bestselling fiction:

• An amazing story, which has stood the test of time;
• Emotion.

Read the article.

 

Write a short story: which genre?

Short fiction: which genre?

You can write short fiction for any genre you choose. Here’s an article with examples of short stories in many genres.

I’ve written short fiction under a pen name, as well as my own name. Short fiction is fun to write, especially for those periods when you’re overwhelmingly busy.

In addition to genre, we had questions about story length. How long is a short story?

1. Word count: decide on the length of your short fiction

Generally, short fiction is estimated at under 15,000 words. Once the word count approaches 20,000 words, you’re in novella territory.

The short story authors in our group all wrote stories under 8,000 words. Depending on your style of writing, this is a good length: you can tell the story and involve readers via emotion.

But how do you get started with a short story?

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