Wet Noodle Posse

Friday, February 29, 2008

Goodbye to February! Q and A

Goodbye to February and to the first Wet Noodle Posse Character month. Today is Q and A day, the day you can ask those left over nagging questions about Character.

So what questions do you have?

Which character poses the biggest problem for you (For me it is the villain) and what problem do you have with that character (mine can get too "Snidely Whiplash")?

Are you struggling with a character's backstory? With their GMC (Debra Dixon's Goal, Motivation, Conflict)? Was there anything in Character Month you wished we had covered and didn't?

Ask away!!!

A big thank you to everyone who participated in Character Month, our Wet Noodle Posse bloggers, those of you who commented and those who just "stopped by." Those who commented have been entered in our prize drawing.

Today's prize is Jill Monroe's Blaze, Hitting the Mark

And the winner is:

Gillian Layne

Whoo hoo, gillian! Just send your contact information to me at diane@dianegaston.com and I'll pass it on to Jill.

By the way, Jill's February release, Primal Instincts, is on sale now!

The Wet Noodle Posse has more in store for you. March is Plotting Month and you won't want to miss it.

Now.....on with your questions

Labels: Character, Jill Monroe, Q and A

Friday, February 22, 2008

Q and A Friday

Today is Q and A day. You Q and we A....

Next week we have:
Monday: Theresa Ragan on Getting in to Your Characters Heads
Tuesday: Delle Jacobs on Working Backwards to Develop Character
Wednesday: Esri Rose on What Makes an Effective Villain
Thursday: Lorelle Marinello on How to Use Minor Characters

So questions on those topics might wait until next week.

But what questions to you have about Character this week?
Anything more on Beta Heroes? On Naming Characters? Any other questions on inspiration for Characters?

What do you want to know about Character that we have not covered?

Ask away!!!
Diane

Labels: Character

Monday, February 11, 2008

Michael Hauge's Concepts of Identity and Essence

Last Fall I had the good fortune to attend an all day Washington Romance Writers workshop featuring Michael Hauge, screenplay consultant, lecturer, and author of the acclaimed book, Writing Screenplays that Sell. From his years in Hollywood, Hauge has developed an understanding of the kind of story structure that results in successful screenplays. The good news is, his ideas are very helpful in writing romance.

(Note: I'll be using ‘hero’ in a generic sense, not a romance writing sense and I'll adopt the old convention of using ‘he' instead of the cumbersome 'he/she')

Hauge’s concepts about Character are very integrated into his ideas about Plot. No matter what the external plot, the hero must have an inner journey of transformation, one which Hauge conceptualizes as a journey from Identity to Essence.

For this journey the hero must have not only a visible goal, but also a deeply held desire, an unfulfilled longing that he is too frightened to pursue.

What prevents the hero from fulfilling this deeply held desire is a wound from the past, an unhealed source of internal pain, a pain so strong he fears its reoccurance. From his wound, and his fears of repeating it, the hero develops a belief about himself. This belief about himself is what Hauge calls the hero's Identity.

Identity is “the persona the hero develops to protect himself from the pain of re-experiencing his wound.” It is his “emotional armor,” what keeps him from again facing that early pain. It becomes, as Hauge says, who the hero thinks he is.

Hauge gives a great fill-in-the-blank sentence to help us figure out our hero’s Identity.

How would your character respond to this question?

“I would do whatever it takes to achieve my goal. Just don’t ask me to _____, because that is just not me.”

Whatever belongs in that blank is, of course, what your character must do in the story.

In order to reach his inner goal, the hero must give up living in his identity, face his pain, and become the person he has the potential to be. Hauge calls the person-he-has-the-potential-to-be the hero’s Essence.

Essence is who the hero really is on the inside, who he has the potential to be if he gives up his identity.

Inner conflict, Hauge says, is the “tug of war between Identity and Essence.”

So this is the battle we want to convey in our stories, showing glimpses of the hero’s essence, his fears, his wound, and his deeply held desire.

The only way the hero can achieve his deeply held desire is to “move out of his identity and into his essence” This is the hero’s transformation, his journey.

Try figuring out your characters using Hauge’s concepts. What is your character’s deeply held desire? What is his Wound? His Identity (use the fill-in the blank question)? His Essence?

Can you see his Inner Conflict? Do you get ideas about Plot?

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

This is only a tidbit of what Michael Hauge has to offer. I very enthusiastically recommend you attend one of Michael Hauge’s workshops, purchase one of his DVDs, or buy his book, Writing Screenplays That Sell, all of which can be found on his website or at amazon.com.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Stay tuned this week for Colleen Gleason's Differentiating Heroes While Keeping Them Heroic (Tues), Jill Monroe's Alpha Heroes (Weds), Janet Mullany's Historical Characters and Their Problems (Thurs) and Q and A Day (Fri). Feel free to email me your questions for Q and A Day ahead of time diane@dianegaston.com

Labels: Character, Michael Hauge, writing

Monday, February 04, 2008

Character Month

Last month The Wet Noodle Posse covered Getting Started. This month our topic is Character.

We Romance writers often ask each other whether we are “Plot Driven” or “Character Driven.” I’m definitely Character driven, which is why I volunteered to moderate our WNP Character Month. Almost all my stories develop out of a character, the idea of a person whose story I want to tell, often a character who appeared in a previous book.

All of our characters are important, but I believe the success of a romance novel mostly lies with the hero. We want to fall in love with the hero of a romance novel and we want the heroine to be someone --- like us, or an ideal of us.

We don’t want our heroes or heroines to be perfect, because part of the delicious fantasy of romance is to see how love can change us, transform us, make us into better people. At the end of our books, we want the hero and heroine to be more than they once were, to have the injuries of the past healed because of love. We want Beauty to tame the Beast; Cinderella to wed her Prince; Snow White to be awakened with a kiss.

But how to craft these strong, to-die-for heroes and valiant heroines? How important is backstory? What should their Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts be? What flaws should they have? What will make the reader fall in love with them? How can I make them unique? How can I show who they are in the writing?

That’s what we will be discussing in a variety of ways this month.

This week’s schedule:

Tuesday: Maureen Hardegee, author of quirky southern short stories like her latest in At Home in Mossy Creek, discusses Using Pet Peeves to Inform About Characters.

Wednesday: Dianna Love, whose next book, Phantom in the Night, is written with the fabulous Sherrilyn Kenyon, covers that thorny question, Is Your Character Acting Out of Character?

Thursday: Noodler and Multi-award winning Priscilla Kissinger writes about Character Interviews

Friday: Q and A Day, a day to ask any questions you like about crafting characters. You may ask your questions ahead of time by emailing me at diane@dianegaston.com or just asking in the comment section on Friday.

There is more.

We are giving away prizes this month! Dianna Love will give away a signed copy of WORTH EVERY RISK and a booklight. And Jill Monroe will give away a signed copy of HITTING THE MARK. All you have to do is comment on the blog! Dianna’s winner will be randomly selected on Friday, Feb 15, and Jill’s winner, on Friday, Feb 29. So join the discussion and have a chance to win.

Beginning now.

What do you think are the important elements in a romantic hero and heroine?

What are your peskiest problems in developing characters?

(Speaking of prizes, come visit my website and enter my contest. My friend Kathryn Caskie, whose How To Propose To A Prince is due out Feb 26, and I are each giving away signed copies of the books that started our series. From Kathy, it will be How to Seduce A Duke, and from me, The Mysterious Miss M. )

Labels: Character, Diana Love, Jill Monroe, Maureen Hardegee, Priscilla Kissinger