Silk & Shadows

Currently working on: Last bits of Christmas prep
Mood: Festive

Last week, my XY who had been gone, out of the country, for two months finally returned home. And there is joy in Whoville!

He was touring Europe — Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and Poland — as Rainstick Cowbell. Just a boy and a guitar, wandering narrow alleys to dive bars, literally singing for his supper. He hates the dry sound of club recordings, but here’s a glimpse of the life of a touring musician:

He got home just in time for the holiday madness. We went and cut our Christmas tree on Friday. And it was actually a sunny day in the Pacific Northwest!

I have almost completed our transition for regular tree lights to the new LED lights, which are super-trippy when I shone them on the walls. (Uhm, yes, there might have been spiced cider spiked with Hot Monkey Pepper Vodka involved.)

Since we don’t have much room in our house, we get the classic table-top Charlie Brown skinny tree. (Yes, the tree is slightly crooked; again, I blame the vodka cider.)

Having my sweetie home, my holiday madness under control, and a pretty tree decorating my picture window is reason enough for joy. What’s yours? Besides vodka cider

Currently working on: Another round of editing
Mood: Determined

Yesterday was Father’s Day, and since romance novels are all about heroes, it seems only right to take an extra day here to mention the first hero many a kid– hopefully — encounters: a father.

From my dad, I inherited enough engineering DNA to make me a plotter rather than a pantser. I got from him a love of deserts (“eroded dirt” as my tree-loving mother calls them) and desserts. He taught me how to catch garter snakes — and taught me to leave them alone. He passed on to me a hefty dose of his sense of humor which I in turn pass to my heroes.

He also gave me good advice over the years, which I’ll share with you:

“Always pursue your dreams, or at some point your dreams will end up pursuing you.”

Inspiring yet mildly menacing, like all the best advice. It contrasts poignantly with the advice a friend got from his father when we were all in our early 20s: “Fergit yer dreams.” (My friend’s dad wasn’t a hick but he was intoxicated at the time of the advice, hence the slurring.) What kind of bitter sorrow drives a man to say such a thing to his son?

“Success will come with patience and persistence.”

This advice made me laugh because my paternal DNA lacks the chromosome for patience. I wish I’d listened anyway. Persistence is probably the more critical component of success, but patience makes the wait more pleasant.

“We love you and will always be here for you. But don’t move back home.” (Paraphrased)

I figure he saw a nature show about the papa bird kicking the baby bird out of the nest. But really, giving his kids the space to spread their wings and the freedom to fall must be a scary moment for a loving father. But then he gets to remodel the empty bedroom into a home office, so it’s probably worth a few sleepless nights.

“The key is to enjoy life while you work to reach your dreams. That way, the path becomes as rewarding as the objective.”

This is advice I struggle to remember every day. Or at least every other day. Once a week, minimum. Enjoy. Work. Dream. Good balance. Thanks, Dad.

Having a loving, supportive, smart, interested father is a great gift. What’s the best advice your dad gave you?

This article first appeared in the Romance Writers of NZ (RWNZ) monthly magazine Heart 2 Heart.  I wrote it after the newsletter editor there asked if I had an article on character creation and I realized that, gasp!, I didn’t. Now I do. I’m also teaching a class on Creating Creepy Characters for Savvy Authors this week and this post adds to that content.

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Which comes first, plot or character? Like the chicken-egg question, it’s basically irrelevant. For successful poultry — and story — creation you need both. For me, though, plot comes more readily. “What happens” bubbles up in my brain before “who it happens to.” Since character doesn’t come first for me, I have a process to create the people to live (live through!) my story.

Warning #1: Long post
Warning #2: Pantsers/organic writers, back away slowly. This technique may give you contact dermatitis.

1. What sort of person will suffer the most from this particular storyline?

Okay, that sounds a little mean, but conflict is the heart of commercial genre fiction, so the characters are going to have to suffer to earn their happy ending. Story conflict is amplified by building personalities who will struggle most vigorously against (and ultimately for) the lesson they have to learn. Thoughtful character creation is especially important in romance because not only are the characters fighting their way through the plot, the hero and heroine will fight against and for each other.

For me, thinking about the theme helps me find my characters. In my Marked Souls urban fantasy romances with alpha male warriors possessed by repentant demons, the series theme is the shifting balance between good and evil, but each book in the series explores that question from a slightly different angle. For example, in the latest story, VOWED IN SHADOWS, the book theme is about weaknesses of the flesh. Naturally, the heroine is a stripper with a boa (not the feathered kind; the reptilian). Nim’s body is a sensual weapon she uses against an uncaring world…and it is also her weakness because she still carries the scars of childhood sexual abuse. So who would suffer most from such a conflicted heroine? A married man who hasn’t had sex in eighty years! Unlike the heroine, the widower hero holds femininity sacred. I’m being a bit wry by saying ‘holds’ since a maiming in an earlier story left Jonah with only one hand; his weakness of the flesh is quite literal.

I find that it helps to list the characteristics of the hero and heroine side by side to make sure the conflict between them and the plot is inherent in their personalities. I also make sure the seeds of their need for each other is nestled in that conflict by answering the question “What does he/she learn from her/him because of the story?”

2. What made the character this way?

When I first started writing, I took a character-building class where they handed out a twelve-page dossier to fill out. Eye color, okay, but favorite ice cream? Really? It paralyzed me because it seemed so arbitrary. (People with processes tend to dislike arbitrary.) If dreaming up a character to that level of minutia works for you, of course, carry on. I find that knowing the character’s likes and dislikes NOW is less important to me¾and to the story¾than the roots of their discontent. Working backstory into the actual pages is tricky, but knowing the character’s history can help flesh out the present without seeming so random. Not all of it (please, not all of it!) will show up in your story, but hints of those experiences will tint the character at every level.

The rule of backstory creation is: Go deeper. For example, Jonah is an ex-missionary. Of course he is, since Nim is a stripper! I wanted that source of conflict between them from the beginning. But I also wanted to give a reason for their eventual relationship. So I went deeper. Sure, he’s a missionary, but why? He was a religious man (another level of conflict with his demonic possession) and his wife was a minister’s daughter (the exact opposite of his heroine) but what more? Go deeper. Ah, he was a missionary, in part, for the adventure. But why? Going deeper, I find out that as a child he read a penny dreadful with bare-breasted native girls! That spirit of adventure along with a touch of male ogling gave him the history to bond with his heroine. Eventually

3. How will the character get from the beginning to the happy ending?

Once the basic characteristics and backstory are nailed down, I track the character’s growth through the plot. As a plotter, it’s easy for me to let the battle scenes run amok without making sure the characters get something out of it besides bruises. But since our genre is about conflict AND change, I want to make sure the characters are embedded in the experiences on the page.

Time to make another list. I start with Point A: where the character begins the story, which is usually some version of 1. despairing, 2. lost, 3. oblivious, 4. willfully blind, or 5. happily puttering and about to be catapulted into the gleeful hell that is the plot. I end with Point Last, where the character finally “gets it,” whatever it is for the particular story. Since stories where the characters come to unmotivated insights and unsustainable epiphanies are unsatisfying and unbelievable, I chart the clear steps between Point A and Last.

For example, Nim goes from the kind of girl who metaphorically wields a gallon of gasoline and a match to being a powerful positive light against the darkness. A few of the steps between include: selfishly taking on a demon to improve her chances of winning the stripper all-stars; facing monsters in real life and in herself and learning she finally has the power to fight them; finding tentative friendship with other women in the demon-possessed league; admiring the hero for his dedication to fighting evil; believing his love for her means her scars don’t make her damaged goods; valuing the goodness in the world.

Here is where plot and character and romantic relationship intertwine on the page. The forward progression of the plot drives changes in the character, and the character’s changes drive the plot forward, and the hero and heroine push each other. I find that I usually have to move pieces around a few times — can’t have the hero injured in the battle here because that would force the heroine to acknowledge her feelings and she can’t do that yet, etc. Personally, I think that character rules plot because I find you can more easily massage the plot to echo the character’s growth; fudging the character’s growth to fit the plot can feel forced and unrealistic (always funny when you are talking about fiction).

I have other, smaller tools for refining characters¾motto, behavioral quirk, personal imagery dictionary, etc. — but these three steps give me a sturdy launch for a story. You can also write most of a synopsis with these pieces. Pantsers, if you made it this far, you see there’s still a lot of room for on-the-fly characterization, like favorite ice cream. I also use these character notes during revisions to make sure I told the story I wanted to tell.

Although I consider myself a very analytical writer (shocking, I know) in the end, I do believe a character comes alive through some indescribable jolt of magic. But I think it’s a lot like Frankenstein’s monster; Frankenstein had to do a lot of work first — grave robbing, sewing, decanting mysterious bubbling liquids — before the lightning brought his creature to life.

Happy mad scientisting!

Currently working on: Some bizarre futuristic postapocalyptic action adventure thing that came out of nowhere
Mood: Baffled

In the strange alternative universe that is publishing, even though Book 3 of the Marked Souls doesn’t appear on bookshelves until April 5, Book 4 is going to cover conference in some high rise in New York even as we speak.

Here’s how I imagine it is happening:

Editor: We need eye catching! We need hot! We need…the bold hero cover!

(Trumpets blare from the coffee room.)

Cover designer (who looks as rumpled and sexy as the males on the covers themselves): I can build him. I have Adobe Photoshop. I have the capability to build the romance novel hero cover. Better than he was before. Better, chestier, more rippling abs…

Editor (producing Author cover notes with a flourish): Here are the specs.

Designer (reading through notes): There are specs.

Editor: Yes, I said that. These are the author’s specifications.

Designer: No, this actually says spectacles.

Author (appearing out of nowhere, much like the aforementioned story idea and the aforementioned trumpets): Ha! Yes, I have given the hero glasses because I wear glasses and it’s about time more demonically-possessed heroes had to wear glasses. We will be bold heroes together! In glasses!

Editor and Designer (blinking)

Author (also blinking as she wakes from her nightmare back in her bed in the middle of nowhere): Yikes. I had this dream I was in New York at a cover conference. And I wasn’t wearing a shirt…

And in honor of my bold heroes, here’s the first glimpse of my Romance Trading Cards. Much like the Book 4 cover, RTCs are in development around the country at right this moment as romance authors gear up for the spring and summer conference and convention season. You can see examples of some of the gorgeous work at the Romance Trading Card website.

Here are mine, with much thanks to my designers and with hands-clasped prayers that Book 4 is as bold!

Have you seen any inspiring book covers lately?

First off, my heart and prayers go out to those dealing with the disasters in Japan. May all of you remain safe.

As for sagging middles…these aren’t the only options available to you, but if you’re stuck, maybe they’ll spark a fresh perspective:

1. Raise the stakes. Have your hero discover the looming disaster is even worse than he imagined. An example of this would be discovering the kidnapped child he’s hunting for is injured or sick. Or the road in front of the bus has not been finished there’s a twenty foot gap between the hero and safety.

2. Peel back another layer of your hero’s character. Use an event to trigger a memory that is very painful for the hero. This is especially useful if it causes conflict between the hero and heroine, or causes the hero to veer away from a possible route to success.

3. Change direction. Put a big roadblock in your hero’s path that forces the hero to discard his current plan and come up with a new one. A hero always has a plan. Sometimes the plan doesn’t work out. A literal example of this is the escape tunnel that ends up blocked, but it can be anything.

4. Unleash your villain. Have your villain do something really smart and really nasty. And if your hero gets injured in the fallout, so much the better. The best villains are always the ones that manage to outsmart your hero a time or two.

5. Deepen the romance. Turn up the heat and let your hero and heroine sweat it out together. This one actually ties in nicely to any of the above events, because there’s nothing like a near-death experience to stir up the hormones.

If you’re a writer, do you have a favorite way to juice up your story? As a reader, do you recall an awesome story twist that really worked for you?

I spend a lot of time figuring out my characters before I dive deep into the story. One of the most effective ways for me to ‘meet’ my characters is to just start writing, even if I haven’t nailed the plot yet. This works for me because some of my characters—mostly the guys—aren’t big talkers and getting to know them requires observation.

Once I’ve thrown a couple of tough scenarios at them—a dead body, an explosion, or the very unique touch of a beautiful woman—I have a good idea who they are.

My next step is to find a photo that matches my impression of the character. No picture matches the image in my head exactly, but some come pretty close. I tend to pick actors, rather than magazine models, because models tend to look too perfect. I like my men a little flawed. When I find the right photos, I post them on the desk around me for visual reference.

So, what pictures did I pick for the heroes of my first three books?

Lachlan:

Clive Owen (as Aurthur)

I think Clive Owen is the epitome of ‘ruggedly handsome’.

Brian:

Jensen Ackles (of Supernatural fame)

Jensen is model-perfect, but then again, so is Brian.

Murdoch:

Gerard Butler (as Beowulf)

Gerard is also conveniently Scottish. Yum.

If you’re a writer, do you use pictures in your character profiles? If you’re a reader, do you imagine certain actors playing your favorite heroes? Willing to name any?

Ever struggled to identify the ‘fatal’ flaw in your character? That one personality trait that constantly gets him or her into hot water? The one that just might cause a black moment between the two main characters?

There are lots of flaws to choose from; as humans, we suffer from many.

But one place to look for a flaw, if you’re having trouble defining one, is within the character’s strength. Most writers have no trouble describing the utter awesomeness that is their main character. They instinctively know what unique skills she has, what finer qualities he possesses. But strengths are funny things. They are often two-sided, like a coin. There’s the side that makes your hero or heroine shine, and the side that’s a little tarnished. Let me give you an example.

Let’s say your hero is a police officer, and you decide his strength is that he’s selfless. This is a guy who defends the weak and rescues the innocent. Very heroic, right? What could be flawed about that?

Surprisingly, there are several possibilities:

- If he leaps to the defense of the helpless all the time, is he careful about his own safety? Or is he the type to lay his life on the line every time? I could see that causing problems with his heroine, couldn’t you?

- If he really enjoys saving people, maybe he makes assumptions about their ability to handle danger. Wrong assumptions. I could see that causing problems with his heroine, couldn’t you?

Let’s pick another one. Perhaps you decide your heroine’s strength is that she’s independent and self-reliant. The not-so-wonderful side might look like this:

- If she’s self-reliant, she might have a bee in her bonnet about asking for help. Which means she probably won’t, until it’s too late. I could see that causing problems with the hero, couldn’t you?

- If she’s independent and strong, she might see attempts to smooth her path as suggestions that she’s incapable of handling things herself. I could see that causing problems with the hero, couldn’t you?

- Strong, self-assured people can occasionally be abrasive, rubbing people the wrong way, especially when they are under stress. I could see that causing problems with the hero, couldn’t you?

One more? What if you give your heroine a strength of intelligence? Is there a negative side to that? Yes.

- If she’s smart, she often knows all the answers. If she regularly shares those answers, she can inadvertently make other people feel stupid. Think Temperance Brennan on Bones. I could see that causing problems with the hero, couldn’t you?

- If she’s smart, she might think two or three steps ahead of other people she’s working with, leading to her facing the villain without support. I could see that causing problems with her hero, couldn’t you?

So, next time you’re stuck trying to identify a character’s flaw, flip the strength coin.

Currently working on: Book 5
Mood: Immersed (but still breathing)

I surely do love the dark, wounded, brooding, bad boy alpha hero (shocking, I know) but, man, he can be hard to write.

You’d think it’d be easy. After all, a dark hero is like a brownie recipe: There aren’t that many ingredients:

• One black leather jacket
• 2 cups worn-denim-clad butt
• A dash of arrogance
• Brusque one-liners to taste
  Do not overbake. You know you want your dark hero gooey in the center.

That’s it. And yet any brownie connoisseur knows, the variations on the basic recipe are endlessly yummy. Even without the frosting.

But I find that dark heroes — much like brownies — are opaque. In the same way that I don’t like to share brownies, my dark heroes don’t like to share with me. That’s the problem with taciturn, emotionally aloof loners — they won’t talk even to their creator.

I just started writing Book 5 of the Marked Souls series, and Ecco muscled onstage as the hero. In my original sketch of the full series, I knew some basics of the Book 5 hero but I didn’t have a name. So when Ecco claimed the honor, I  shrugged and thought I’d let him audition.

I forgot that you don’t LET a dark hero do anything. Ecco was originally a walk-on character in SEDUCED BY SHADOWS, Book 1 of the Marked Souls. He was willing to voice what the other characters were afraid to say, so I thought he’d be a great sidekick. But then he started kicking back.

Here’s the scene in VOWED IN SHADOWS (April 2011) where Ecco let me know he wasn’t going to take ‘wait’ for an answer much longer. Archer, the hero from SEDUCED, is talking with VOWED’s Jonah. The boys are in the kitchen, whipping up dinner (and tempers) as they discuss doing some unauthorized recon:

Ecco shook his head. “Better wait for the boss.”

“Since when do you obey the rules?” Archer asked.

“Since the girls started coming round and breaking them. Playing with them is more fun. And way scarier.” Ecco glowered at Jonah. “The next one was supposed to be mine.”

Jonah’s hackles rose in atavistic response to the challenge. “They aren’t trading cards.”

Ecco tapped the spoon against the side of the pot and turned slowly. “They should go to the strongest fighters.”

Jonah flexed his fingers. “They did.”

“Knock it off, you two,” Archer snapped. “We don’t understand the mechanism of the bond, but you can be sure there’s more to it than muscle.” He gave Ecco a long stare.

The big talya returned the look, and in his hands, the spoon seemed suddenly lethal.

Jonah smoothed his hand down the back of his neck. The short hairs prickled against his palm. What was wrong with him? He wasn’t the sort to beat his chest and crow. But the incense scent of Nim was still on his skin. This was why saints renounced the temptations of the flesh.

“I’d join that advance team,” he said. “If Nim is in danger from her demon’s strength, I want that anklet.”

“Not to mention, who knows what havoc Corvus could wreak with the artifact at his disposal.” Archer swept his hand over the map again, encompassing the city with his gesture.

Jonah remembered the pull of Nim’s allure. “I think the artifact does the djinn-man no good without the matching demon. Which is why Corvus went after Sera last winter.” He flattened his palm on the map. “Which is why we’ll have no trouble finding him again.”

Ecco stirred the soup with unnecessary vigor. “Because he’ll be coming for Nim. And you don’t seem to care.”

Jonah stared at him from beneath lowered brows. “Tell me again how you think you could have her, and I’ll show you how much I care.”

Archer sighed. “Your mark is on her, Jonah, as surely as the demon’s. Ecco is just teasing you about taking her.”

“No he’s not,” Jonah said, just as Ecco protested, “No I’m not.”

So now we’re stuck with each other. And despite his quickness with one-liners (he’s probably the sort to like lots of extra chocolate chips in his brownies) Ecco has proven remarkably silent about his feeeeelings. And I need to know those before I can let him close to his heroine. Or, more to the point, before the heroine will let him close to her.

But how do you get a dark hero to open up when even the worst demons of hell have only made him giggle? Have you ever had a tall, dark and silent type (real or imaginary)? How did you get him to share his heart with you?

Post your ideas in comments and a random winner will receive a signed copy of Christine Warren’s BIG BAD WOLF.

Got a little extra time on your hands now that the kids are back in school? Let me help you out with that.

Need a book to read?
Last year, several of my auto-buy paranormal authors teamed up to do a blog together, called The Oddshots. The contributing authors are Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brooks, Patrice Michelle, and Jill Myles…a bunch of very talented authors. If you like hot heroes and smart heroines, check out their books.

Need a laugh?
Then I recommend dropping by Debbie Ohi’s very cool site. She does some hilarious comics about writers…and other stuff. I found Debbie (also known as InkyGirl) via Twitter and now regularly stop by for a chuckle.

Need a change of pace?
Try a visit to the Writer’s Forensics Blog. As you might guess from the title, the topics lean toward the grisly, but I promise it’s fascinating stuff. Or maybe it’s only fascinating if you’re a writer. Or a twisted writer. What can I say? I like it. And if you need cheering up afterward, just stop by Debbie’s site again.

Currently working on: Wrestling Book 4 to the ground
Mood: Mouth full of dirt

On my morning alley walks with Monster Girl, the grass has gone to seed and the air smells like cider from all the fallen apples. The shadows are getting so long.  But the heat isn’t over yet because here at Silk And Shadows we’re sneaking in a week of hot love scenes.

And speaking of hot, y’all are now seeing the first posting of VOWED IN SHADOWS, Book 3 of the Marked Souls.  Here’s Jonah, the hero, in all his blond bad boy glory, with the sweltering city behind him (it’s August in Chicago, after all) and a demon storm on the horizon:

Maybe it’s just the humidity making me swoon.

We’ve met Jonah briefly in SEDUCED BY SHADOWS and FORGED OF SHADOWS. This righteous missionary man lost his wife when he was possessed, and he can’t imagine ever loving again.  So when the repentant demon within him sets him on the path of rampant unbound etheric energies that leads him straight to the Naughty Nymphette — dancing tonight at the Shimmy Shack! — he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will never, ever, in an eternity fall in love as Archer and Liam did before him.

But he is a man of strong convictions, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure the Chicago league of immortal demon-possessed warriors bring this newest fighter to their side. And by “do whatever it takes,” I include doing her…

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From VOWED IN SHADOWS:

Jonah sat and crossed his arms. He needed her demon ascendant before he made his move. She wouldn’t believe his story otherwise. “Dance for me, Nymphette.”

Physical stress triggered the demon’s rise. Dangerous, but necessary since the newly possessed needed to find a way to balance the demon within them. Males traditionally drank and fought their way through the other-realm emanations coursing through their bodies. He’d been told it worked differently with the females. Just as well, since his balance was shot.

“Call me Nim.” Her voice turned husky, not with the demon, just a generic come-on. She swayed closer. “Nymphette is such a mouthful. And maybe you want me to save my mouth for… other things, right, Cap’n?”

“Don’t call me captain.”

Read the rest of this entry �