Great Hooks!

I love to watch and read suspense. One of the reasons is that when you come across a good one, you can't put the darned book down even when its two in the morning and you're dead tired and you KNOW you're going to regret it, but...you turn the page.

Great writers understand the power of a hook. Not only at the beginning of a book; that initial pull into the story that cements you with the character's fate...

I'm talking about the ones at the end of each chapter. Those last lines that make you suck in your breath and blink a few times as you decidedly ignore the clock and keep reading.

Some of my favorite chapter endings are usually a beat before the stakes ratchet up...

• The hero mid-leap across a precipice.
• An ominous prediction before entering a new scene.
• A secret revealed or a mystery set in motion.
• It can even be the shift of allegiance in the mind of a character

Something that vaults us into the next scene, the next scenario...a peek or teaser that beckons us and leaves us wanting to know what happens next?

Writers Write had a helpful photo up the other day. It was a list of some great hooks to consider using in your own work. Posted by Amanda Patterson on her Tumbler...

I hope you find it helpful. What are some of your favorite hooks and cliff-hangers? Are there any that just irritate you? Until next time...Go Write!

V is for I'm a Veronica.

If you were a teenager in the late eighties...you had to have heard of the movie Heathers. If you haven't, then let me explain.  The movie takes place in a fictional high schoool and plays on the stereotypes of cliques. Theres the jocks, the stoners, the band geeks...and the gorgeous girls that everyone both loathes and envies. In the movie Heathers, the queen bees are all named Heather.  Except for one...whose name is "V" is for Veronica.  She, as it turns out, is not a vapid mean person. It just turned out that she is beautiful and rich and therefore thrust into existence with others of her kind.

Well the movie gets interesting when a new guy comes to school and starts wreaking havoc among the student body. The dark comedy demostrates, in exaggerated fashion, the destructiveness of simply following along with the herd  and blindly copying the popular kids. Plus...they blow stuff up, which in my opinion, is really great film making. Thing is that although he is obviously dangerous and turns her life upside down, Veronica can't help herself...she's totally gone for this guy.

The reason I love this film is that the main character's love interest is played by Christian Slater and he does the most awesome job of capturing the dangerous allure of a bad boy. Granted he eventually tries to blow up the school, he is what I used to swoon over...cavalier, risk-taking, smooth talking...a bad influence if my mother ever warned me about one. But the charater Slater created was more than a rebel without a cause, or a misunderstood youth. He was funny and sarcastic, wicked-smart, and had a dark sense of humor.  He was not an cliche, or an archetype...he rang true.

In fiction there are several archetypal personalities to build on for a love interest. Theres The Playboy - a ladies man, loves women, charming You have the Alpha Personality - think spy or fighter pilot, an adrenaline junkie.  Then we have my personal favorite, The Bad Boy - he's all fast cars, swagger, and wrong side of town. Finally we have Wounded Dude - he's the guy whose family died, or lost a partner in a shoot out or something sufficiently torturous for him to brood over.

There are other archetypes; The Nice Guy who ends up being an Alpha, etc. But thats all they are, a framework. Its up to the writer to layer in the personality quirks, mannerisms, and a voice that makes it clear why the heroine is attracted to and flustered by the love interest you've provided. 

What are some of the things you use to layer a character? Do you base them on people you've met? I'd love to hear what you do to make a character real to you as a writer and by extension, your readers. Until next time...Go Write!

Photograph by divemasterking2000, Uploaded on January 5, 2009. Photograph by Someone Somewheres Life, Uploaded on March 5, 2008.

J is for Journalistic Tendencies

When I was in high school I took a "J" is for Journalism class because I thought it would be an easy 'A'.  I actually wanted to learn photography, but my family didn't have the money for a good camera.  The first day of journalism class my teacher announced that he needed a photographer and that whoever volunteered, would get to use the school's brand new telephoto lens camera.  I nearly wet my pants with anticipation.  For some reason, no one wanted to do it...the better for me, right? Uh, no.

You see, the photographer also had to develop the film in the school's darkroom, which was only available after school...and after a long and boring informative lesson on dark room procedure and etiquette from the Year Book Club's advisor. ARGH!  What I learned from that experience, besides how to NOT get Orbit Solution in my eyes, is that nothing worth while is easy.  I wanted to learn photography...I did. But, at price *sigh* in my case, it was hang-out time after school with my friends.

What I am getting at is that a lot of the Journalistic Tendencies that I picked-up during my year as a student of the newspaper business have stuck with me.  The one practice that serves me to this day, besides not volunteering for things without knowing the whole deal, is RESEARCH is important. Especially to the writer. Now, those of you who know me personally, you realize how serious I am about research. I've taken gun classes so my heroine doesn't shoot like...well, like a girl. I've studied Private Investigation so I don't sound like a doofus when describing how my main character tracks down a "Skip-Trace"...had to throw in some P.I. jargon there.

 

Taking classes isn't the only way to get a real understanding of a give subject. The Librarian is your friend, people, use her as a resource. She can point you to archives, building plans, technical journals, even old-timey guys that come in regularly and have the time to sit around while you pick their brain (by the way, thanks Harold!). They'll thank you for it. Librarians have so much knowledge and most people either ignore them or use them as handy alphabetizers.

Another great resource is the internet. There are a number of sites created especially for research and the writer.  The Writer's Edge has a great compilation of sites like the Library of Congress and National Press Club Resources, both places cater to the professional. And they're FREE. One of my favorite sites is Writer's Free Reference. There are useful things like currency converters, time-zone clocks, and a 1-800 directory.

Nothing throws readers out of the story more often than that jarring realization that something is off.  Its worth the effort to double-check. I'd love to know of an instance where this happened to you. Either while reading or watching a movie. To start things off I will let you in on one of mine...The internet is not magic and hackers cannot blow up natural gas stations by typing on a keyboard and "re-routing" the lines.  Not pointing any fingers *cough* Mr. Die Harder...I'm just sayin'.

Coming up: I will be hosting the Primal Scream Blogfest - Your most heart-pumping scene, May 5th...sign-ups today on the sidebar.
Until next time...Go Write!

Photograph by katerha, Uploaded on January 9, 2010. Photograph by L. Marie, Uploaded on December 24, 2006.

Conflict

the fight
Originally uploaded by alicepopkorn

This week I am exploring conflict in the fiction novel. Conflict is the driving force behind any great drama. Conflict in the form of an internal struggle, an opposing force, even nature can take a serene scene and turn it into something surprising and compelling. Great stories have conflict in its many forms accost the main character and by extension, the reader.

One form of conflict is confrontation. Not the boring confrontation in a typical family, but the unusual, unexpected, the can’t-look-away type of family drama that keeps the reader hooked. Or maybe its confrontation in the form of a rivalry, for example, competing with your new boyfriend for a coveted job, or your father to win a case. Confrontation can be your main character against a destructive part of themselves, an addiction or a phobia. Perhaps they’re suffocated by the thought of enclosed spaces and they have to go spelunking to solve a crime, or save a loved one, and everything goes wrong.

This brings me to my next point. The conflict has to occur early on in the story. Some successful novelists say that they try to introduce conflict within the first two or three pages. It’s called in medias res, Latin for “into the middle of affairs”. It means dropping the reader in the thick of things. Star Wars is a great example of this literary device. We meet the young Luke Skywalker in the middle of a rebellion, during an epic battle his father helped ignite.

Its this device that made me love all those old detective novels I used to read. These books open on a courtroom and a contraversial verdict sends the crowd gathered into a rage. Two men, ready to shoot each other, each with their hand on a manila envelope. A meteor rockets into a field sending plumes of acrid smoke that downs anything living near it…these are great openers from some of my favorite stories. I got hooked immediately because the writer threw me into a conflict early on.

Conflict compels the characters to act, and the underlying motivation or drama gives them a reason to act outside of their comfort zone. And that, hooks the reader. It gives them the chance to hope for the heroine to face her demons, overcome the obstacle, and triumph. That’s what a good read is, an opportunity to take a journey with a compelling character. Whether it’s a race through the jungle, a frantic search for a missing child, or a desperate plea to stave off an execution, the reader has to care what happens and that only happens if you draw them into the story from the get-go.

Until next time…Go Write!