 For Authors: May 15, 2013 Issue [#5676] |
  For Authors
This week: Save The Cat, Kick A Puppy Edited by: Jeff  
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"Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.
-- George R.R. Martin
Trivia of the Week: When trying out a new pen or pencil, 97% of people write their own name or scribble their own signature.
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SAVE THE CAT, KICK A PUPPY
Don't worry, we're not going to actually kick any puppies in this newsletter.  But I did want to take a few minutes to write about these phrases, because they play an important part in the way we set up our characters. "Save the Cat" is a phrase coined by the late Blake Snyder, a Hollywood screenwriter who is perhaps most famous for writing a book of that name. The basic idea is that, while perhaps not literally, your protagonist should do something heroic (like saving a cat) early in the story so as to firmly establish him or her as the hero of the story. That concept was later expanded upon when someone else concluded your villain, therefore, should do something villainous (like kicking a puppy) early on as well, so as to firmly establish him or her as the villain.
As ridiculous as those examples may sound, there's actually a valid point to them. How do we know who to root for and who to root again, if we don't have contextual clues to let us know? There are some kinds of stories where the heroes and villains are clearly defined by their occupation or some other objective means... but in most cases, unless you're relying on predictable audience expectation to establish character for you (which itself runs the risk of veering into cliche territory), your characters are defined for the audience by what they do. If your character does something heroic, that character will be seen as heroic. If a character does something despicable, that character will be seen as despicable. The real problem, though, is when your characters don't do anything defining at all.
This may not be too difficult to achieve in some cases. If you're writing a western, the good guy is probably the sheriff, and the bad guy is probably the outlaw. But what if the roles were switched? Everyone expects the lawman to be just and fair and virtuous... but what if the situation were reversed and the outlaw was a rebel hero fighting the oppressive stranglehold a sheriff has on his small little frontier town? Well, it might be time for your outlaw to save a cat and/or for your sheriff to kick a puppy. Have each of them do something that clearly establishes their role in the story, otherwise the audience might misunderstand and just assume that your sheriff is the protagonist and the outlaw is the antagonist. Maybe the outlaw needs to steal from the rich only to turn around and give it to the poor (sound familiar? ). And maybe the sheriff needs to do something dastardly to let you know he's not the good guy here. For a great example of this, see Denzel Washington's character Alonzo Harris in the movie Training Day; you discover real quick that Harris is anything but a principled lawman.
Give your characters something to do that defines them for your audience. Especially if you're trying to play against convention and portray characters that are surprising or even attempting to defy expectation, make sure you give them an action that will clearly and dominantly establish their role in the story. One of the biggest mistakes less experienced writers make is in not properly setting up the characters and the conflict in a story. Audiences don't want to get halfway through a movie or a hundred pages into a book and still not have any idea of who the protagonist is or what their role is. Take the time to plan out a scene (or scenes) early on in your story where your characters actively do something that defines them. Maybe they're not literally climbing up into a tree to rescue a cat, and maybe they're not drop-kicking a Pekingese between the uprights of a football goalpost... but if you can figure out a way to have them perform a symbolic action like that, you'll immensely help your audience figure out the direction in which you're trying to go.
So next time you're writing a story, look at your hero and ask, "How is he going to save a cat?" And then look at your villain and ask, "What's his version of kicking a puppy?" Find those answers and express those sentiments in your own unique way and your audience will be that much more invested as you're establishing and revealing the rest of your narrative.
Until next time,
-- Jeff
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Feedback on my last newsletter about serialized versus standalone storytelling:
Missus Miranda  writes, "I really like the article about serializing or leaving a novel as a standalone and the difference between the two! I have several stories and some seem as though they could be serials... but perhaps they have a long story that will take two to three books to tell. It clears a lot of things up about the various stories floating around my head!"
I'm glad you found the article informative!
Mark Allen Mc Lemore writes, "Thanks for this newsletter. I am currently trying my hand at a series- Parallel L and Graham. I want to write the short stories and eventually try my hand at writing a comic series around these characters. I have a little background in my port.
Once again, thanks for the newsletter, very informative."
You're very welcome!
Vivian  writes, "One thing I look for as a reader and as a publisher is to have each book in a series also a stand-alone. A reader, if he doesn't or can't begin with the first book, likes to read something that makes sense. A book in a series that is a stand-alone allows the reader to enjoy even if not reading in sequence. ~~ Viv"
Thanks for writing in, Viv! This is an eternal argument in the television world... and has actually resulted in three different formats. There's the true standalone like "Law & Order" and "CSI" where you can watch them in any order. Then there's the true serial like "Lost" or "24" where you'd be truly confused if you skipped around as you watched. But lately there's been a hybrid of sorts where there's a weekly standalone plot, with a secondary plot that extends over the entire season. USA does this really well with their shows like "Burn Notice" and "Suits."
Doug Rainbow writes, "One of my WIPs is a novel. A grad student devotee of F. Scott Fitzgerald finds several unpublished FSG short stories. Each story is a standalone. Each has a theme (e.g. hero worship, class injustice, compromised truth). Each story contributes to the theme of the greater novel: Integrity is its own reward."
Sounds interesting!
baylo541 writes, "I was thinking of a comment then realized I had nothing to say. The only question I might have is that I'm painting a small space In the back room. I was thinking about a Bright yellow but it seemed to much. Blue would probably be best. My buddy has a moss green. It's free so I guess I'll go with that. What do you think? Hey you asked." (Featured Item:1928448})
Moss green sounds fine to me. 
ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy writes, "Thank you for the good information. I write 'slice of life' stories about gay and lesbian characters meeting someone and falling in love with the stories focusing on the moment of committment. It's the message about committment that I want to get across to my readers. I often ask if I should continue the story to a biography of the relationship; I still don't know the best answer to that question although I did take one of those stories and wrote it again as a novel. Both work, the story and the novel; even so, I have not published either except on WDC. Can you write sometime about EBooks? When is 'publishing' a WDC posting or when someone pays money to buy and read as EBook or printed copy? A Can you answer this sometime? Thank you for your newsletters. ANN"
Hi Ann; thanks for writing in. To "publish" means to make generally known, to make a public announcement of, to disseminate to the public, or to produce or release for distribution. So while "publishing" as a business is related to the process of producing and releasing an author's written work for distribution to the public (either as an ebook or a hard copy book), "publish" can also mean merely the act of making something available to the public. So a post in a WdC forum would technically be "published" in the sense that it's being made available for public consumption. Hope this helps!
Quick-Quill  writes, "I have a different opinion to your newlsetter. The story of Lizbeth Salander takes the reader into three books. I however think this is really one long story Stieg broke into 3 sections so as not to repel the reader from picking up the book. Like Lord of the Rings, it is one continious story that really does need to be read in order to understand it in its fullest; not necessary but suggested"
Good point. I would also note, though, that while Stieg Larsson has been cited as saying that the three currently available books in the Millennium Trilogy are intended as one larger work, he was also at the time of his death partially finished with a fourth manuscript and had outlined two others that were unrelated to that core three-volume story. His intention, at least according to his surviving partner, was always to create a series of as many as ten books, not all of which were a continuation of the core story in those first three novels. Unfortunately, Larsson passed away before he was able to ultimately achieve the true and complete vision he had for his series. 
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  writes, "There are series with books that seem to bounce back and forth within the series's history, then there are those that go in a straight line, but any of which that one can pick up, and don't need to worry about missing the rest." (Featured Item: "The Reptilian Chronicles" )
Excellent observation! 
jack-tyler writes, "I write a series, and I think what made the choice easy was that I love my characters, and can't bear to say goodbye without them having one more adventure; I hope it never ends..." (Featured Item: "Invalid Item" )
That's true... when you love your characters, it can be very difficult to say goodbye!
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