What Makes You Read About Someone Else's Life?

What with the birth of the newest UK royal, I've been thinking about what it is about the royals that fascinates people on a whole. Why do we still have monarchies in developed countries? Why are people willing to admire someone else simply for their genealogy or because they are in a position of power? But more so, why do people want to follow these people online via blogs, newspapers, pictures, etc?

Take Princess Catherine for example. She's beautiful, she's common, she's the girl-next-door turned biggest fashion icon of the decade. The media buzz around her as bees around flowers. She's got that je ne sais quoi.

What all this media hype really got me thinking about is how many novels center around royalty and fame. Many historical authors are famous for chronicling not normal people's lives, but royal lives. Today, it seems that celebrities are the royalty of the world. I'm not going to lie, I enjoy a bit of celebrity gossip every now and then, even though I don't care to meet any of these people. But there's a certain disconnect from the "glamor" of their lives and the mundane of mine. It's that very disconnect which makes me interested in them. I cannot imagine existing in that lifestyle--and I don't--so I'll read about it instead.

There are many actors that I will read an article about and be fascinated with. Despite my mild interest in their lives, I may not care for what I know about that person's character, and I have a feeling I would despise them if I knew them personally. (No, I won't name names, that's not my point.) But this leads me to the question: would I be willing to read a book about a character like them? Probably.

People like to read about lives different than theirs. What is more different than celebrities or royals? Essentially, those are real people put into a completely foreign way of life. People read in order to experience those other lives. Every book I read puts me in the life of a new person. I want that person to be quite different from me. I need to connect with them, but I do want their lives to surprise me, to be different from "the norm." I don't want to read about someone going to work unless they uncover their boss committing a crime, or they are madly in love with their engaged coworker, etc., etc. If all they do is go to work, clock in, work, clock out and go home--why am I reading? Why would I want to read about a life that isn't very different from my own?

This leads me to my WIP, of course, because nearly everything in my life makes me think of fiction (more specifically how I can improve my fiction). One of my more recent WIPs has a main character with famous parents. By default, she has a certain amount of fame. Now, I'm not naive enough to think that's enough of a hook for a reader. However, it can add certain amounts of complications. And those complications are of much greater weight if the entire world is watching. Fame throws a wrench into many plans, especially if the plan involves a secret. And that is a recipe rife for disaster. And aren't disaster and conflict the reasons we read? 

So while I am content to read about famous people, perhaps a famous character or two in my WIPs add opportunity for conflict that will keep the reader reading.

~I.E.

Linking Your Novel Together

As we wind down on Week 2 of the A to Z blogger's challenge, I find myself struggling through a severe head cold and trying to string two coherent sentences together. So for my "L," I came up with "links."

A well-written novel must be linked. And what do I mean by links? 

Well, if you think about the link of a chain, each one connects with two other links, one before and one after. The only two links which do not connect to two others are the beginning and end. But each link is soldered together to make running your hand over it smooth. 

For a novel, this means each scene is a link. And your entire story should be linked together so that it reads smoothly. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, all of which seamlessly flow into the other.

Each link serves its purpose to string the plot from beginning to end. No scene should be so abrupt that it causes the reader's attention to snag. Each scene should naturally follow the prior one. In other words, each scene needs to build on the information, characters, plot, themes of the one before. If a scene doesn't advance one or all of these, it might need to be revised or eliminated completely.

Each scene should: 

1. Establish when (time);
2. Establish where (setting);
3. Establish who (character or point-of-view);
4. Advance why we're reading (the plot);
5. Make it clear what the character(s) want;
6. Have conflict;
7. Start as late as possible in the action;
8. End as early as possible (think cliffhanger);
9. Transition us from the prior scene;
10. Transition us into the next scene.

A successful novel is one where the reader eagerly grabs a hold of the chain and, link-by-link, works his way from the beginning to the end. He isn't snagged at any one link, he doesn't stumble or want to put the book down. It's a difficult thing to do, but it's what every writer should aim for in their novel. (It's almost as difficult as making this metaphor work.)

~I.E.

Exposition in Fiction Writing

Simply put, exposition in fiction writing is anything which conveys important background information to the audience. In other words, exposition could be considered an information dump. 

The problem with exposition is that a large chunk of it stops the plot cold. 

What could be more boring than interrupting a page of witty dialogue between protagonist and serial killer in order to describe that vital moment in the killer's life where his mother left him and his father beat him? Even if that's what made your character turn into a killer, untimely exposition can ruin a book. A reader won't have enough patience to reach the end of the story if you keep interrupting for an info dump—no matter how vital to the plot.

So how do you get around exposition? There are four main ways, outlined below.

Dialogue:
You can try to weave it into dialogue, but this can make your dialogue long and unrealistic. You could introduce a character who asks questions that the reader might be asking, I.e. The dumb friend, but that can sometimes be too obvious (and annoying). 

Flashbacks:
Flashbacks have fallen out of vogue to some extent, but this is an efficient way to give a lot of vital information. A flashback is a scene where the character experiences a flash back to a previous time in their life, usually connected in some way to the scene at hand. This experience could be triggered by a smell or sight or something another character says. The only problem with these are that they significantly interrupt the plot and take you back into the past—whether minutes or years, it's out of the action.

Memories:
Similar to a flashback, but shorter, memories look at the scene from the present, rather than experiencing it as it happened like in a flashback. Again, these could be triggered by a scent or sight or a comment. Since these are shorter, they could be considered less of an interruption than a flashback.

Sprinkle:
Perhaps the best way is to sprinkle it throughout dialogue and narrative. A sentence here, a sentence there, a little bit of setting, a little bit of backstory, but keep the focus on the action. 

It's sometimes hard to know when you're writing what is distracting backstory and what is crucial to the plot. I find I recognize exposition for what it is when I set my first draft aside for a few weeks, or a couple of months, and then do a quick read through in one or two sittings. During that read-through, I highlight the offending scenes and edit them later. (Yes, I've finally learned how to do this! My iPad is vital for this, because I cannot edit as I read.)

Striking a balance of exposition is difficult, and something that even best selling authors can get wrong. Of course, it's also something that readers have varying opinions on. So what to do? Well, definitely get second (and third and fourth) opinion, but try to keep the focus on the here and now. After all, the "here and now" is the story you're trying to tell, right? 

~I.E.

Day 1: Absolution

Day 2: Biography

Day 3: Confidence

Day 4: Daphne

Voice in Writing

Photo credit: mrehan

Voice is something that I rarely think about when writing. And, to some extent, I think that is okay. For voice is not something that can be forced, but is something that is naturally developed over time. Of course, I speak of writing fiction, where a voice can be anything you want it to be.

When I say "voice", I mean the myriad of personality, tone and story which is conveyed through your writing. If non-fiction, you'd probably want something matter-of-fact, informational. Fiction, however, is full of opportunity to develop voice to its fullest extent. Voice is what makes a reader come back to the same author over and over again. Voice draws the reader in and helps make a connection between character, reader and author.

So how do you find your voice?

Voice can vary from one piece to the next. The voice of a character may overshadow the voice of the author in fiction. In some cases, it should (think of close first person narrative, Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games). In others, it may not (think third person omniscient, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities). However, there is always a voice in piece of writing. If The Hunger Games were written in third person omniscient, it would have an entirely different voice, even if still written by Suzanne Collins. If A Tale of Two Cities were written in first person narrative from one (or many) of the character's perspectives, the novel would read quite differently. Not necessarily worse, not necessarily better. Just different. Point of view shifts can affect voice, and that's something to keep in mind for your novel.

To find my voice for a novel, I like to take the main character I'm working with and freewrite from that character's perspective. Ask the character a question and have them start to talk. Don't interrupt them, just write what they tell you. It sounds crazy, but you'll discover a lot of useful things about them and the direction your story can go. Their voice will bleed through, mingle with yours and you will discover a possible voice for that novel. This voice is at once yours and the character's.

And that's what you want--a voice that is specific to both you as an author, and the character you've created.