Tag Archive | character

Importance of voice

Dec4

Especially in dialog.

Took a family trip to San Fran and the beach yesterday. It was lovely.

And personally I found it HILARIOUS that not one of the 3 iPhone users remembered a charging cable. We had 3 for androids and only 2 in use.

But the van had a dvd player. I was sitting up front so I didn’t see the movie, but I could hear it. And after a while, you learn to tell the difference between characters because of their voices. But also the way they speak.

In writing, we don’t have the audio playing but we have to get it playing in the readers imagination. There’s the “she hissed” and “he growled” type tags, but…

Maybe the point is to make the dialog read like you imagine it sounds. Like a person is actually speaking. So if someone is hissing, you’d put in many s words “Sadies still not stopping?” (Which is off the cuff and horrible but you get the idea.)

What is we took that sentence, and gave it some action? “Sadies still not stopping?” Melanie whispered, grabbing my arm.

Eh, not quite there. But closer. The point is, each character is going to talk differently, have different rhythms and patterns to their speech. Just like us lol.

Character Voice becomes especially important when you write first person from multiple POVs. If readers are to believe that these are from different perspectives, we have to put in the work. A psycho, musician, a businessman and a soldier of fortune will all not only speak differently but think differently as well. And if they don’t, then the author has to stop and evaluate why there are two characters instead of one. If they think and talk the same…. They are the same to the reader. They won’t be able to differentiate between them so the characters will get lumped together.

Funny story — I started this blog post over a year ago, when I still lived in California. We had just left the beach (my farewell tour lol). Back then, I read traditional romance and speculative fiction. Now, I read across the spectrum, including non-traditional romance including poly romance (RH) where making characters have distinct voices is imperative. Otherwise, they are related to only being in the mix because of a need for their body parts.

We need to make sure that every character who gets screen time (POV scenes or chapters) has the personality and individuality to pull it off.

Suspension of (dis)Belief

Aug23

I wrote a whole romance story in my little Mead spiral notebook when I was in 4th grade. I don’t remember the particulars, but I do remember the female main character having a broken arm and leg, hopping on a motorcycle and riding it down the face of a mountain. Not very believable. It tracks, tho, for my age at the time.

You all know I don’t name and shame when I find something I so passionately disagree with in a book that I’m willing to write about it here. I spoke, at length, to my BFF last night (who is NOT a reader) about the problem I had with the book & problem we are going to discuss. I basically gave a TED talk.

When I went back to see the reviews I kept coming across the acronym TSTL in reference to the female main character (FMC). I’m a little old, and oblivious, and my first thought was “What’s a T St Louis?” No, Dear Reader, it does not have anything to do with the city. It apparently means TOO STUPID TO LIVE

Roughly 4 months pregnant, she hops fences, gets drugged 3 or 4 times within a couple of chapters, mounts a rescue with a teen girl, oh … The same teen girl who tried to help her escape the hero. And The “hero” choked her out and left bruising and chafing around her neck. This wasn’t sexual. It was abuse. And all the heroine would say was “It’s complicated.”

This FMC is the one in a horror story who would say “Hey, what’s that noise in the basement? Oh, look, it’s a werewolf should I pet it?”

I can’t tell you how it ends because I gave up on the series somewhere in the middle of book 2. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief. Now, I’m not trying to yuck someone else’s yum. If you like books that veer more towards bruises that’s ok. Your reading taste does not have to be the same as mine. 

But what I really can’t abide is how stupid the FMC was.  And how cavalier she was with the lives of not only her unborn babies but the teen girl and her brother. She was “so good with them”, and yet she kept making choices that any dumbass would know were going to have high consequences. For her and them.

And she kept making the same mistakes.

It’s ok to write a character who is TSTL. But as authors we need to write some kind of growth (unless it’s a horror book). Or at least new ways to be stupid.  The FMC was not exhibiting any signs of growing the F up, and the hero was devolving. As a reader I was skipping whole parts and as a writer I knew…. When that starts happening, it’s time to skip the book altogether.

What’s your reading TED Talk about, Dear Reader?

Writing Life

Jun19

Have you ever been in the midst of writing a story and realized…you probably need to go back and rewrite the whole thing?

I’m not talking about when you write something, then press the delete key, or rip the pages out and metaphorically burn them. This is not being unhappy with the story, or your own skills….

This is knowing you need to go back and tell the story another way.  It might be telling the story from someone else’s POV, changing the framework, a whole host of reasons.

For me right now it’s the perspective. Right now it’s told in a close 3rd, alternating between 2 different characters: one male, one female.

It’s no big deal, except it is a big deal. When you write 1st, you get into your character’s heads in a way you can’t in 3rd. It also changes the dynamic because the voice has to change between characters.

Which sounds obvious.

Also a bit moronic.

However. But.

It’s not as easy as you might think. In 3rd person writing, the writer (or narrator) is the one plucking the details to show, highlighting this or that. It’s their voice that infuses the story. But in 1st, that’s all character voice . And if you have more than one main character, you have to make certain sure whose head you’re in when the story is being told. And because you have more than one voice you can’t use the party trick of just using your own “voice.”

(character voice and author voice are different. I don’t know how to explain it but maybe one of my friends will do a guest post for me on it.)

So, here’s the crux. I’ve written men before. Of course I have. In close 3rd. But never in first. I’m kind of scared to do it because… Welp. Obvious reasons.

Am I still gonna try?

Absolutely.

Trying new perspectives, new techniques, it’s one of the ways I love to write. Might crash and burn. Might write a really good story. Will definitely enjoy the process, learning my way around it.

I’ll try to update you soon. I know I’ve been a little absent this month.

For now, Ta, my Lovelies!

Burritos, noodles & writing

May30

It’s no secret that I recently moved from California to the Midwest. There are lots of things that shocked me, and one is the difference in the way some of my favorite dishes are prepared.

When I say I went to the restaurant and got a burrito, what do you picture on your mind? A flour tortilla, various fillings, two edges tucked in and then rolled to make a portable meal? Kind of like you’d get at Taco Bell if you ordered a Burrito Supreme (the way it’s constructed, not necessarily what’s in it).

That’s not what you get in our new area, though. Here, it’s a flour tortilla with fillings, rolled similarly to an enchilada, with either cheese sauce or red sauce over it. We ordered without sauce, for my son, and when it arrived at the table he was flummoxed. Besides taste, the whole reason he ordered it is that the burrito does not, in his experience, need utensils. Now it did. In hind site, I should have just taken his plate and rolled it.

For me, the surprise was with chow mein. I love me some savory noodles! My favorite (don’t hate me) are from Panda Express. Thin noodle, lots of flavor. Now, I’m picky about my chow mein, a friend says I like Hong Kong style. There were lots of places in Cali that I didn’t like their noodles. But they were noodle based. Here, chow mein might be a mix of noodles and rice. I’m still trying to figure out how to order what I want at the restaurants here.

What does any of this have to do with writing?

If you are writing about a specific area, make sure you get the food right. Simple mistakes and  misunderstandings can trip up your reader. I looked up pasta salad in my wally world app and got…. A macaroni salad with broccoli. (I was looking for the one that has rotini and a light Italian or vinaigrette as a base).

But also… There are 5 senses and when writing we tend to center on just a couple. Sight. Hearing. Depending on what we write (hello romance!) touch. How much richer will the readers experience be if they  can taste the confusion of rice in chow mein? Is your main character’s coffee bitter or sweet? Are they eating that burrito with their hands, sauce dripping down their arms as the kick of the sauce makes their eyes water?

As writers we need to make sure we get the regions food right. And then we need to make readers, near and far, know what our characters are tasting. How they are experiencing those tastes, whether new or a familiar fav.

Ta my lovelies! I think I’m gonna go make some noodles!

Book Review: Almost Perfect

Sep10

Book Review: Almost Perfect

Note: I have never before reviewed a book that I DNF’ed, however NetGalley said it was appropriate (and recommended!!) so here we are.

Almost Perfect by E. F. Todd
Publish Date: 10/31/23
Publisher: Sugar Beaver Books

First off, I want to thank Sugar Beaver Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book. I was excited to give it a try, the cover looks fun—it’s a Christmas Romance. My favorite!!

The writing was good, with some stellar examples of great writing shining through. So why did I DNF?

I DNF’d Almost Perfect at almost the 20% mark. 18.6% I believe, if you want precision. The reasons why we’re two fold: character and pacing.

V is a Doctor. A practicing doctor. The disconnect may have been the choice to have the heroine go by an initial instead of something like Vee, even. For me, naming a character by an initial would be more appropriate when the character is edgy and wise. Or if the narrator is slyly trying to make things “anonymous”. To further the disconnect V felt incredibly young and sheltered. Her and her friends struck me as more college age than professionals—and it had nothing to do with the Doc in love with a bar tender aspect.

The pacing was also off. When it came to the first love scene (I think) is when I finally closed the book. It felt like it was taking two chapters for him to kiss his way up her leg. It did not in fact take that long, but when a romance reader is bored by the love scene and is a few pages into it…. It needs to be tightened.

But worst of all, there was no Christmas in that 20 percent. I know it comes, I just couldn’t hang in there to get to it.

We can be honest and say the pacing issue might have been because I could not connect with the main character, V. It probably was.

There are some great lines in this story though, and I look forward to the next story this author has up their sleeve.

Thank you again to Sugar Beaver Books and Netgalley for providing me a copy for review.

Catching my breath…

Jan21

In a very real sense. I’ve had chronic bronchitis for a very long time, but it went on hiatus since… well, pretty much since Ray was born. Sinus infections? Oh my yes. But bronchitis wasn’t my main thing. Until now. It started around Thanksgiving and, Well, I’m finally breathing pretty good, the cough is almost gone, and i feel human again.

So here I am.

I was also catching my breath when it came to writing. I started out on my goal of writing the rock opera with Bon Jovi as the main (only) music… but… I discovered that something I had written before fit in as well. I had orginially started the other piece as something to do with mommyhood, but the rage kept bleeding over and taking it over so I set it aside.

I also wasn’t sure about the tone. It could come across as smart- alecky, which is not what I intended. The newer version is not… it’s more serious.

But the real problem is…. It’s so damn scary. I’m scared even now.

But I’m still gonna do it.

I can feel myself wanting to clamp down, put the story on ice. But I was writing, having fun, listening to Bon Jovi as RESEARCH, people! The actual story line, though, has gotten to a point where I’m afraid to step over the threshold. It’s at the first turning point.

I’ve said before that it’s deeply personal.

It’s also non-fiction.

Which probably accounts for at least some of the fear (ALL OF IT). I may just create a narrator as a character, removing me by one… but that feels like cheating.

Do other people get this petrified of just putting the truth down on paper and accepting the consequences? Good, Bad or indifferent?