March Madness: All the Little Things

Even the tiny things can reveal SOOO much.

The tiniest things reveal nuances about your character. These nuances make your character unique. These are the small things that your readers may never, ever in a million years realize you're doing. The simple way your character swears in their head or out loud. Do they say "God" in situations of stress or brilliance? Are they saying it because they were raised in a religious household and their first reaction is to begin praying? Or, the other end of the spectrum, they use "Oh God" as a blasphemous swear because they weren't raised in a religious household? Or does your character use it because she's a teen and that's what teens do (in which case, she's crossing dangerous territory into normal rather than being "normal")? Or are you being a lazy writer and didn't realize that you use it as a filler, empty calories, wasted space that could otherwise be put to great use?

For example, consider the below passage:

The boy before her was the most beautiful hunk of man meat she'd ever lay eyes on. My God, she thought, as her eyes traced his broad shoulders, and settled on those heavy brows over intelligent green eyes.

Ignore the man meat--if you can--and the ridiculousness of this passage (felt like writing a bit of romance rather than YA like I normally do for examples. Go with it). Okay, we get that she's a lusty woman and the "Oh God" is as much a physical response as her brain stuttering. But consider:

The boy before her was the most beautiful hunk of man meat she'd ever lay eyes on. Good Cosmo Lords, please save my loins from what I might do. Her eyes traced his broad shoulders, and settled on those heavy brows over intelligent green eyes.

And immediately, you know who the woman is, and that she's not just a silent observer--she's a woman of action and Christian Gods have absolutely no place in her life. Or bedroom.

Language shapes your characters, setting, world, absolutely everything about your writing. Consider John Green, any of his works. You won't find a single misused word. Any swear words are carefully thought out and, in the case of An Abundance of Katharines, use Frack instead of F*ck. Because they're nerds and it's awesome.

You notice that I'm talking contemporary novels rather than SciFi, Fantasy, etc. That's because I didn't want to get hung up on the intense world building that goes into those genres. But it needs to be stated. Loudly. Your special worlds need special vocab. It can be simple as substituting a swear like "Oh God" for "Oh Gods" or "Oh Goddesses" or getting really specific and going for "Good Leopold and all names of good that spring forth from your fingers", Leopold being a king or god or creator of the universe. Or heck, an artist the main character admires greatly.

I don't think The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson gets enough attention, so I'll direct your attention to a single character who really is rather minor. But memorable. Each time he mentions the King, whom the band of rebels on the fringes of the kingdom are ultimately protecting against invaders without his knowledge, he references great deeds, offspring, and usually compliments his loins. He includes it in his speech as easily as breathing, as a substitute for "In the name of King George" sort of thing. (I apologize, I cannot remember the character's name--my copy is lent out at the moment.)

Which gets us into characters. If your main character is a good Catholic girl, she probably isn't going to swear. Maybe she'll say a quick prayer or involuntarily reach for her rosary or cross her heart. Your love interest is a badass biker boy who uses creative swears because he grew up with a senile grandfather who never had an end of them (most are about fifty years out of date as well). The best friend character often switches to chat speak so she can say more in a shorter period of time. The brother character speaks in short, slow, to the point statements because he is a man of few words (cliche of course, but all us girls have a soft spot for the caveman).

I'm mainly talking about swearing, aren't I? It's one of the most telling aspects of voice and dialogue. But it extends, as I briefly touched on with the best friend characters in the example above, to speech, mannerisms, how a character processes information before doing something with it.

My advice, as always, is to read and pick apart a successful novel, or one that you admire. Watch movies even (not all, of course, they're not all equally successful in this). Star Wars you have people who believe in the force using "May the force be with you" (and that great scene in A New Hope when Han tells it to Luke for the first time, imparting so much respect into that simple line) and Yoda of course with his awesome speech patterns, and so many little things like Leia telling Han she'd rather kiss a Wookie (as opposed to a dog or pig on Earth).

And pay attention to your own characters. What do they do in times of stress? What do they do during their Eureka moments? How do you, the narrator (whether in first or third person) convey that to us, the reader? Is there anything you can do to be more successful?

The danger is, if you continue to use your stalk phrases (as original as stock photos), your work is going to be passed over as a pale imitation of greater genius. In contemporary, your characters will come off unoriginal and bland. In SciFi and Fantasy, I won't believe your world building, and even question if your setting is in fact another world, rather than dystopian or a weak version of Earth's medieval era.

Remember, it's the little things that count.

The key word is "little things." Don't overuse them. Don't make them blatantly obvious. Weave these things into your story so well that the reader won't know what's happening until they get to the last page and scream "Merlin's pants!"

Happy writing!

Language

Language has a lot to do with voice. What is it about your characters (in whatever world they are in --this world, a Dystopian world, another world, etc), and how they talk that make them unique?

What do I mean? Look at Maze Runner, a fantastic example. These boys are in a maze with no memories, so they start making up their own names for things and using their own terms in place of "stupid," "lame," and the F-bomb. They have developed their own language, but one any reader can easily understand and believe.

Across the Universe also achieves the same, though not to quite the extent. They say "brilly" instead of "brilliant" and "frex" in place of many swears.

And, though I hated the book (respected yes, but it's one of those things that creep the heck out of me, like Chuck Palahniuk or Thomas Pynchon), Feed by MT Anderson also has great language. So much so that if I read too many chapters at once, my internal thoughts starting sounding like the narrator. Talk about effective.

Once again, all my examples are dystopian or futuristic or sci-fy. On the contemporary side, John Green is a master with language. Specifically, An Abundance of Katherines, in which their F-bomb substitute has a nerdy explanation. Not only is the language amazing, but it plays directly into VOICE.

 
I'm not expecting you to go so far as to create an entire new language. But (they'll be speaking English I hope, haha) they need their own way of speaking. If your story centers around a royal family, how is their speech different than a commoner's? If they are on a spaceship, I hope that their language (and VOICE) reflect a scientific bent. If they believe in multiple Goddesses, I don't want to see "Thank God"--use maybe "Thank the Goddesses." If it's a contemporary novel, how does the character's use of language reflect their voice?

Language/voice isn't only about replacing a few F-bombs for censorship-sake however (please don't do it for censorship-sake, do it because it fits your world and characters--if your world and characters drop the F-bomb every other word, then have at it!). It's about creating a language that's engaging but realistic, something that makes your characters/setting engaging.

So, based on language, what are your favorite novels?

Happy reading!

YA: Voice

Plot's all well, but probably the biggest reason I reject manuscripts is for the voice.  And I'm not just talking first person past tense (or third person limited past tense--it seems that the majority of recent novels are written in one of the two).  I'm talking getting in the character's head.  We are them for 200-400 pages.  Their thoughts become our thoughts.  We witness events through their eyes.  Their first kiss is our first kiss.

So, what does this entail?  You have probably all heard "show don't tell," well that comes into play with the voice.  Want to listen to a monotone robot reading you the news?  No?  Didn't think so.  It's quick and efficient and doesn't waste your time, but then you can't make fun of the newscaster's new haircut.  We want to be shown the news, through emotions and pictures and overly contrived one liners.

See what I did there?  I made fun of newscasters, because that's part of my humor.  I could have told you "Show don't tell" but I felt that the situation warranted an example, and you never would have known my opinion of newscasters.  Does that matter in the overall scheme of things?  Probably not.  But I'm more likable now, right?

Using first or third person limited allows the narrator to get inside the main character's head and reveal the inner workings: emotions, logic, thoughts.  Thoughts, actions, and reactions are all different.  Your character can witness the death of her cat, can react by running in and grabbing her automatic rifle to kill the coyote, but what is she actually thinking?  What are her emotions?  We can assume she was out for revenge, but was she thinking "I'm out for revenge, where's my rifle?"  Or was she thinking, "Thank God I started keeping my rifle cleaned, loaded, and by the backdoor to ward off my creepy stalker ex-boyfriend otherwise I never would have been quick enough to avenge my cat.  That dog's pelt is mine, may he forever adorn my mantelpiece."  Wordy?  Perhaps, but I think you get the picture.  (This also goes hand in hand with "The Beat.")

Most of my favorite books won me over by the voice.  Yes they had great plot and development and everything else vital to a good read, but the voice managed to keep me engaged and invested.  If someone rewrote Moby Dick with an updated 21st century voice, I might actually succeed in reading it all the way through.

Invested...  That's what it's all about, right?  Get us invested in your character.  Make us care whether or not she gets the boy or survives the flood or solves the missing computer mouse mystery.  And get us invested early.  Unlike plot, voice isn't really something that unveils as the novel progresses.  Page one, line one, I want voice.

Favorite authors based on voice alone:  Diana Peterfreund, John Green, Jay Asher.

Happy writing!

Voices in my head

Alright, so everyone always talks about needing voice in your stories.  And your story has voice, right?  I mean, there is a character and he talks and has original thoughts.  Everyone will love him/her!  I've been reading for what seems like forever, and recently, with my internship and all the reading I'm doing, I thought I knew what voice was.

Now, under my list of job titles and achievements, you might notice that "writer/author" is not present.  Before you say "wow, she really doesn't understand our side of the story since she doesn't write", I'll tell you that I do write, but just for me and a friend and not for the goal of publication.  A while ago, I finally finished my first full length novel, and sent it to a friend for him to read (since then it's gone through seven rewrites).  Well, he only read about ten pages and all he could say was "I don't know who this character is."  I batted the comment away like a pesky mosquito, thinking "you're an engineering major, you don't know what you are talking about" (which I'm sure plenty of writers do).  But the other day I was sitting in my car, delaying going into work by listening to my book on tape.  Now, not only does this book have the best first line and title I've ever come across, but it has voice.  And I got a light bulb turned on right over my head: my character has no voice.

Well, there it is again.  Voice.  What is it?  Well, other than the personality we see when the character interacts with other characters and responds to certain situations, there is a certain inner monologue.  Now, this can be third person, first person, even second person.  But the narrator needs a voice.  The characters need thoughts.  They can be sassy, crazy, sarcastic, deeply wounded and dark... anything really.  (More on character quirks in a subsequent blog)

Your homework, read a book.  Pick up your favorite book, a book you haven't read, something on the best seller list, but read with voice in mind.  What are you learning about this character when he/she is not interacting with others?  What does his/her inner monologue sound like?

And try this: after you finish reading, put the book down and think "Do I remember what POV it was in?"  For a full five minutes I couldn't remember if I had written my story in third or first person (warning bells), and another manuscript I'm reading right now I had forgotten if it was first or third (warning lights).  So go find your voice, stick it in your story, have someone read it, and ask them "Who is my character?"