Bond Chapter One

A Fast, Fun Way to Write Fiction
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 661-000011223-4
Verlag: Anessa Books
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 147 Seiten

Have a great idea for a novel, but don't know where to start? Have you started your novel, but got bogged down after only the first few pages and don't know how to go on? Then this book is for you!  
Everything you need to know to write your novel is in this book--character development, dialogue, story structure, setting, writing craft, point of view, even editing! 
This book will help you finish the book you've always dreamt of writing.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bond, Meredith

Leseproben

1
WHAT A CHARACTER!
 
THE BASICS
Harry Who? I start my planning process with characters because they are the most important part of any story. Without characters, you wouldn’t have a story because there’d be no one acting out your fabulous plot. Imagine “Harry Potter” without Harry, a “Stephanie Plum” novel without Stephanie, or Artemis Fowl without Artemis. You just can’t do it. These books don’t exist without their heroes. They are what the book is about, for the most part. Yeah, it may be about magic or another world or even a murder, but the reason we read these books (and many others) is to get to know the heroes and, maybe, live in their shoes for a time. So, you’ve got to start your story with the characters who will enact it. You need to know who your hero is and your villain. You need to know where they come from and what they want. You need to know what sort of person they are, how they talk, and what happens when they get mad. At the end of this chapter is a basic worksheet for getting to know your main characters and a quickie for your secondary characters. In the next chapter, we’ll get into more details about your characters, get to know them a little better, and have a more detailed worksheet. Right now, you just want a general idea of who these people are to get you started.   Vocab You Need To Know Protagonist: the main character in your story. Antagonist: what stops your protagonist from getting what they want.     THE DETAILS
Heroes, Get Your Heroes Here Not all heroes are created equal. Some are fabulous, brave people (like knights), some are ordinary people (like you), and some are really nasty (dark protagonists). Think about what makes someone a hero. I mean, really. Think about the hero (and remember, I’m talking about the heroine as well) of the novel you’re reading right now. What are they like? What makes them heroic? Take out a blank piece of paper and write down at least three things that makes the hero of that book heroic. Now, think about your favorite hero of all time. Why do you love this character? What’s so great about them? Add this hero’s qualities that you love to your list. Now, be sure that the hero in your novel has at least some of these characteristics. All heroes have a few things in common. It’s quite likely that your list includes some of the following: they’re brave you can relate to them you want to be like them you want to be their friend they have a great sense of humor they’re powerful they’re clever they have charisma they do what you wish you would or could do they have “fuzzy socks”— that is, they’re good and comfortable and make you feel really good, too (although sometimes that fuzziness is buried deep inside or deliberately hidden from the world) If your hero has very few of these traits, maybe they’re a dark protagonist. Dark protagonists appeal to readers only if they have a sympathetic side—some way we can see ourselves in them or, at the very least, understand that they are going to change or repent for the bad things they do or have done. There are other general types of protagonists: The Wounded Hero is angry about something or was hurt in some way. He’s got to learn to forgive and forget in order to heal. The Heroic Hero embodies most of the wonderful traits listed above, but has to learn that he isn’t actually as fabulous as he thinks he is. He’s got a flaw too. They all do. The Ordinary Hero is just like you or me or the guy next door. He is called upon to do something extraordinary and he rises to the challenge in a way nobody could have ever expected. There are other, more well-defined character types listed at the end of this chapter under “Archetypes.” I’ll explain what they are when we get to them. Most heroes also have a presence. They have something outstanding that sets them apart from everyone else in the book, some heroic quality that we all wish we had, too. They, and we, may not know it at first, but it’s there and through the book it’s going to be discovered and put to the test. And finally, one thing that all protagonists have in common is that they must grow. We are all growing, learning, and changing in very subtle ways all the time. Your protagonist must do the same. They go through some very exciting stuff in your story and it’s got to affect them or teach them something, usually something about themselves, so that by the end of the story, they’ve learned some sort of lesson—but please, don’t make it a moral for your reader and don’t be heavy-handed with this lesson. It’s just a little something that your reader, after reading your story, can realize and think about as they close the back cover of your book with a satisfied sigh. I feel for ya In order for your reader to care about what happens to your protagonist, you need to create empathy between the reader and the character. There are five ways to do this: Misfortune Be in jeopardy/threat of loss Be likeable Be funny Be powerful Generally, having at least two of these will create the empathy necessary for your reader to be interested enough in your protagonist to want to read their story. Don’t forget to let us know—through descriptions and actions—exactly what sort of person your protagonist is. Do they smoke? Are they very particular about neatness or a slob? Do they only wear designer clothes or off the rack at the nearest thrift store? Which would they prefer, as compared to what they can afford? Thinking about how the character looks, what they wear and even what they eat will give your reader (and you) a lot of information as to what sort of person this is. That, in turn, will determine how they react when faced with conflict. If they are a very particular person who lives in a neat home and wears only the best clothing, eats only the best food as determined by experts to be the healthiest, then it’s quite possible that when faced with conflict this is not the sort of person who would just lash out or react without thoroughly thinking through all possibilities. In other words, think not only of where your character comes from, but what sort of person they are in order to figure out how they will react the events in your story. Simple Simon Just Stayed Home Real characters are not simple people. They have many sides and many layers. As Shrek says, he’s like an onion—you have to peel away the layers of his personality to find the sweetness inside. Of course, onions are also stinky and sometimes, when you peel away those layers, they’ll make you cry. The same holds true for your characters. What I’m trying to say is that heroes are not perfect. They have flaws. They have problems. They make mistakes. They are human (or whatever type of creature they are, but at heart, they’re human). If you make your hero perfect, they won’t be believable and your reader won’t be able to relate to them because no one is “ferpect”. And having a flaw will give your hero that room to grow that I talked about a little earlier. When you are first creating your characters, you may not see all of their layers. Don’t worry about that. Just as when you first meet someone, it takes a little while to get to know them. The same happens with your characters. As you get to know them better, understand the way they think and speak, and begin to experience your story with them, their layers will become clear to you. Remember that first impressions are the ones that last. So, when you introduce your characters be sure that they behave the way they would normally behave. And please, if you say that your character is a brave, intelligent person don’t have them running from a fight that they started with a stupid remark. In other words, if you say that they are one way, don’t have them act contrary to that. Mwa Ha Ha… er, Villains Now, what about villains? Well, they’re very much like heroes, aren’t they? They’re usually brave and frequently they have charisma. When a villain walks into a room, all eyes turn to him, and then, sometimes, they turn away in disgust. But are villains always people? No, they’re not. A villain or antagonist is someone or something that stops your hero from getting what he wants or doing what he needs to do. Sometimes that’s a person (You-Know-Who) or sometimes it’s an idea or a concept. A hero could be his own antagonist. If he’s too scared to do something, he could be stopping himself from doing it. Society could be the antagonist—girls can’t be knights, so our heroine has to dress like a boy in order to learn how to wield a sword. An object could be an antagonist—a magical ring that draws bad guys to your hero and forces the hero on toward a dangerous destination (something like the Lord of the Rings, right?). But if your antagonist is a person, remember that no one is all bad. Even villains have layers. They, too, were once loved by their mothers. They have a good side, a sweet and kind side—a “fuzzy socks” side. They may hide it or had it kicked out of them at a young age, but at one time, they were nice people, too....