The Difference a Master Love Triangulator Makes

Any writer (and most thoughtful readers) will tell you that characterization plays a huge role in drawing the reader into a story. Finding characters that you can picture clearly in your mind and feel like you know can transport you into the world of a story more deeply than any other element of the story (in my opinion!). 

Today I want to talk about the role that great characterization plays in crafting a love triangle. Now, this is not going to change the opinions of those who do not like love triangles in general (trust me, I get it, I'm the same way with cliffhanger endings!) but I think we can all agree that an incredibly deep characterization of all the parties involved in our triangle enhances the story they star in. One of my favorite examples of a love triangle that brought the characters to life for me is Jenny Han's Summer series. 

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 For me the biggest turn off in a love triangle is an uneven level of characterization. You know the type*: 

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 1. Well characterized girl MC

2. Almost-as-well characterized, and obvious meant-to-be love interest, boy #1

3. Poorly characterized, doesn't-stand-a-chance-but-might-get-a-kiss-or-two boy #2

*Not naming any names here or talking about one particular example, this happens in a number of books.

The thing I love most about Jenny Han's Summer series is that each and every character in the book is well crafted. Everyone from the main characters that make up the love triangle to their supporting family members to the random old man that lives down the way feels real to the reader. Reading these books feels like taking a summer vacation with these families and by the end of the series you feel as though you've been vacationing with them for years.

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How does this enhance the love triangulation? Simple. Because the boys are so realistic, each with his own strengths and weaknesses, there is honestly no clear winner in the war for Belly's heart. In their own ways, BOTH boys are her perfect match which makes the experience of watching their relationship grow and change that much more intense. And for the reader, the many reasons to both love AND hate both of the Fisher boys makes the series that much richer, because as we can truly feel the pull that Belly feels in both directions and the bittersweetness of having to make a choice.


This experience is enhanced further by the amazing job Han does of bringing Belly to life. This is a girl who is at THAT POINT in her life. That point where everything changes and those boys she's been crushing on for what feels like FOREVER finally realize that she is, in fact, a girl. And over the course of the trilogy, you get to watch the Belly you got to know so well in Book #1 grow and change and make mistakes that bring back that feeling of being a teenager again. And because you feel like you know her, you feel all of those moments right along with her.

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So the moral(s) of the story are:

A. Go and read (or re-read) Jenny Han's Summer series immediately. You're welcome. :)

B. To create a truly heart-wrenching love triangle, get to know all of the players and what they want individually. Give the reader reasons to love both of the love interest choices. And most of all, breathe as much life into all of the characters in your story as you can, because the characters people remember most are the ones that feel like old friends, long after they've closed the book.

Book Review: World-Building in Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Writers learn about writing from reading books. That’s why everyone tells us to read! And most writers who have read The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor love it. Not only is the prose something remarkable, the whole story excels because of fantastic world-building. World-building in a piece of literature—especially when it’s a sci-fi or fantasy genre—is arguably the most important thing in storytelling.

The world-building (and pacing of the world) in DoSaB is so good because it reveals the world slowly in a way that both offers information to the readers and withholds it at the same time. How do you decide what to tell readers and what to hold back?

I don't really know the answer to that. But I do know four things that Laini Taylor did in DoSaB that helps her create this well paced, well built world. I could talk about them forever (and have! This post used to be 14 page paper!) but I'm going to pull out one example for each of these things and maybe, you'll figure out a way to use these techniques to build your own world.

1) Offer enough information

Taylor’s fictional world is layered, which basically means each minor detail is built and expounded upon as the novel progresses. This layering works extremely well because it provides enough information to build the world, tells the reader what’s happening, and moves the story forward without throwing all the cards on the table. Example:

“What was Brimstone up to this weekend?” asked Zuzana.
 “The usual,” said Karou. “Buying teeth from murderers. He got some Nile crocodile teeth yesterday from this awful Somali poacher, but the idiot tried to steal from him and got half strangled by his snake collar.”
 “How do you make up this stuff, maniac?” Zuzana asked, all jealous wonderment.
 “Who says I do? I keep telling you, it’s all real.”
“Uh-huh. And all your hair grows out of your head that color, too.”
 “What? It totally does,” said Karou, passing a long blue strand through her fingers.

I like this conversation because it introduces three of the minor elements that are relevant throughout the book. Really, I found six throughout: chimaera, hair, wishes/teeth, portals, angels, and tattoos. Each of these things are introduced in passing, but end up having more importance later. It’s a layered connection. In the opening pages she’s offering up just enough information—that there are wishes, that someone is a chimaera creature who collects teeth, that Karou has blue hair.

Summary: You can introduce the minor things happening from the beginning without revealing what the purpose truly is upfront.

2) Offer frequent reminders

I won't use all the ways Taylor presents frequent reminders of her minor elements, but trust me: there are many. Taylor implements this technique by not allowing more than a few pages to pass before mentioning some element of the story. These elements are the six listed above: chimaera, hair, wishes/teeth, portals, angels, and tattoos.

These reminders keep everything fresh in the reader’s mind, while adding layers to the story and the world she is building. This reminder technique helps the reader follow Taylor into the transition of the third technique where Taylor solves an old mystery before presenting a new one because she’s steadily been mentioning these questions contained in a single word: chimaera, hair, wishes/teeth, portals, angels, and tattoos.


Summary: Remind me again and again so I don't forget--but don't beat me over the head.


3) Solve an old mystery when presenting a new one

There are many examples of this technique in the book. The biggest component of this story is the tie between wishes and teeth. Taylor offers plenty of specifics about the power of wishes without actually explaining how wishes are traded—or what they’re really used for. The reader knows that Karou gets scuppies (a wish denomination) from Brimstone for helping with errands—and that tooth-traders come into the shop to trade teeth for gavriels (more powerful wishes), but the weight is not fully felt until we learn of the most powerful wish, a bruxis.

A bruxis. That was the one wish more powerful than a gavriel, and its trade value was singular: the only way to purchase one was with ones own teeth. All of them, self-extracted.

This minor mention of the ‘bruxis’ and the removal of teeth makes a parallel between wishes and teeth and shows the reader that wishes come with consequences, and that the more powerful the wish, the more dire the consequences. In three lines, the mystery of wishes has been solved. Then, very quickly, Taylor introduces a new mystery because Karou goes into the chimaera world and discovers the mark she bares on her hands covering the bodies of the dead. By giving the answer to one of the story’s mysteries, but then revealing a larger connected mystery, Taylor keeps the story moving and the reader invested in what is happening.

Summary: Don't give me too many unanswered threads. Instead, introduce something and solve something one at a time. Especially if your story is complex.

4) Repeat details even after they have been fully explained

You ever hear that saying about forgiving but not forgetting? Well, this is kind of like that. Just because you've forgiven someone doesn't mean you can forget. Likewise, just because something has been explained doesn't mean it's not worth remembering. In fact, chances are, it should be remembered. By repeating explained details, you can influence all the things the reader does not know, and help the reader grasp the details better by drawing parallels and providing reminders.

Taylor uses many subtle conversations by bringing them full circle to help build the world. Her use of seemingly innocuous foreshadowing occurs many times throughout the text. This technique allows the world-building mysteries throughout the four sections to be seen as one cohesive and intricate plot. Taylor’s techniques also allow her to introduce what seem like new ideas, but are additional details that build upon smaller crumbs left throughout the novel.

By presenting and answering all the mysteries she does, Taylor is creating the foundation for the larger plot of the story—which is the truth of Karou’s identity. Once the foundation (chimaera, hair, wishes/teeth, portals, angels, and tattoos) is laid, the truth of Karou’s identity makes complete sense because all the elements work together.

Summary: Don't let us forget what we already know, so you can wow us with how things work together.

Obviously there are hundreds of ways to build (and reveal) a world. This is just one example--and it definitely won't work for everyone. But I think there are elements that are very relevant and at the least, you can learn some new approach. Now, go read this book. I even wrote an actual book review here, if you need more convincing. It has a lot to offer writers--and readers.

Let's Talk about Books

It's that time again! We get to share what we did or didn't do last week---and what we want to do this week. As always, feel free to chime in and tell us your goals.

Danielle: So, last week I wrote one chapter. Which doesn't sound like much but man, I was in pain. I did read a lot of books. This weekend I wrote another! Now I want to edit that chapter and write another new one. Only two more chapters stand between me and this huge chapter point in my WIP. I want to be at that point before I go to London in two weeks. I love this story so much and it's a lot of fun to dive into.

Patricia: This week was more of the same for me, brainstorming and percolating (aka procrastinating). I worked on an editing project for a good chunk of time and then at the very end of the weekend got down to some writing. It wasn't an amazing week, but definitely better than weeks where I've gotten no writing done, so I'll take it! Positive thinking, FTW this week!

Cindy:  Over the last week I spent a lot of time brainstorming on my new WIP, but not a lot of writing. I'm hoping that will change this week, but I was able to get a good chunk of critiquing done, which was nice. My goal for this week will be to write 1K each day for the new WIP. And I'm with Patricia, positive thinking FTW!

What are you up to this week??

The next two weeks on Tangled, we're going to talk about BOOKS. I know I know--it's exciting. Because we're all writers here but even more, we're book lovers. There's no better way to learn about writing than by reading. So we're going to review a book. But instead of gushing, we're each going to talk about a certain technique in a book and how it works/what we learned from it. It should be fun!

Save Your WIP: Fix Pacing Problems

One of the worst pieces of feedback you can get on your WIP is that the pacing is off. Sometimes (rarely) that's an easy fix. Unfortunately, this is not usually the case. There are several things that can hinder good pacing in a story. It could be empty dialogue, scenes that are too long and drag out well past their importance, and even lack of a good setting.

Fortunately, these things can be fixed, even if they do take some work.

Let's start with dialogue. It's important because reading page after page of internal thoughts and settings is booooring. But also boring is dialogue without any exposition. Here's an example:

"Hi, Sally. How are you?"

"Hi, Mark. I'm good. How are you?"

"Good. Good. Life is good. I'm so glad to hear that you're good."

"Well, it was nice to see you."

"And it was nice to see you."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

Your eyes probably glassed over within a second of reading that dialogue. Why? Because 95% of it was unnecessary. It's repetitive, and well, seems to serve no purpose at all but to keep the characters talking. It's empty and painful to read. Don't do this. And if you do find yourself doing this, stop it. Delete it. Ask yourself what part of that dialogue is really necessary. Also, adding bits of imagery into the dialogue can really help to break it up. What are the characters doing? Is someone staring out the window? Taking a bite of food? Are they holding hands? Provide some sort of setting to the scene. (There is more on this below.)

Now, let's take a look at (too) long scenes. The best example I can think of here, is a fight scene, or a book that reads like one gigantic fight scene. You know the ones. There's a fight scene within the first 30 pages of the book and they just don't ever seem to end. The character finds him/herself constantly in battle and they just. never. seem. to. end. Even if the writing is well done, I can't take much of this. There needs to be some kind of build-up.

If the character is continuously repeating his or her actions throughout the story, it becomes boring and doesn't move the story along. It reads as more a placeholder and can turn a reader off very quickly. Don't get me wrong, fight scenes are important and they can certainly add action to a story that may be lacking in that area, but each scene in the book needs to hold some weight. There needs to be an altering moment in the scene, something that lets the reader know why this scene was important. If it doesn't appear to have a purpose to reader, it's just empty wording.  Ask yourself: Why is this scene important? What does my MC learn from this scene? What does the reader learn? Could my story stand without this scene?

And now, let's set the scene. This (in my opinion) is one of the easiest fixes when it comes to pacing. Every story needs a setting. Every scene needs a setting. The setting can make or break a scene. If your reader can't read a scene and then tell you where the character(s) are, then you might have the problem of creating a bunch of white rooms. White rooms provide the reader with no context as to where the story is taking place and can really damage the reading experience. Each time you sit down to write a scene (or when you're revising and you're reading one) try to visualize where your character is and what he or she can see. Write that down. Write as much as you can. Look up images online to get ideas for how to describe the forest/room/closet/pool they are in. Maybe even sketch it out. You don't need ten paragraphs describing the scene, but a line or two here and there can really help set it up.

Obviously, these are just few examples of how to fix pacing problems in your story, but I hope they've helped you. Happy Writing!

How to Save a WIP: Tension

Last week (or 2 weeks ago really) Danielle wrote a post on tension and how lack of tension can kill your WiP. Today, I'd like to give my thoughts on how to increase/add tension to your WiP. Keep in mind these are just my thoughts and what I do. I'm not, like, The Master of Tension, or anything. :) [Bear with me, this might be a long post, but hopefully it'll be helpful if you read it!]

For me there are two types of tension that I look at when I'm writing.

The first is story-based tension. This is when you need to think about stuff like the stakes and conflicts that your character(s) have to deal with. What are the things that matter most to them and are the obstacles in their way high enough to push your characters after their goal and keep the reader engaged?

I don't know about you, but I love it when I'm holding my breath, itching to turn the next page of the book I'm reading to find out how in the world this character that I've fallen in love with will overcome to this crazy obstacle! (I'm assuming you like books like that too!) I get so bored when reading a book if the tension is just...lacking. Who wants to read about a character whose main obstacles are something I could overcome blind folded with one hand tied behind my back? Kinda boring, right? So, if the goal of your character is this amazing thing (which let's hope it is!) then make the stakes for them to achieve it just as intense as the goal or more!

Two other story-based ways to increase tension are foreshadowing and having a timeline. Adding in little hints of foreshadowing can really increase tension/suspense to areas that might be lacking and can keep your readers engage. And adding a timeline, like a countdown, to when your character has to have something done by automatically adds tension to the story because some terrible thing is going to happen by the deadline if they don't succeed and that terrible thing looms over the character the whole time. Now, that's not to say let's all just go crazy adding in random foreshadowing and deadlines. You don't want to confuse your readers, so make sure your story calls for those aspects before putting them in--and the only person that can know for sure if you should do that is you (or, ya know, you can seek advice from your crit partners too if you have them)

The second type of tension building that I look at in my stories are the technical aspects of my writing. How can the way I string together these words amp up tension? (I especially focus on these tension builders during action scenes.)

• Word choice: (especially with action verbs) Punch up your word choice. Instead of saying "He took my hand and pulled me away." You could say, "He grabbed my hand and yanked me away."

• Short/choppy sentence: This is a technique I use a lot during action scenes. Keeping your sentences short and sometimes choppy increases that tension your looking for. Action scenes aren't the the time for overly flowery writing or lots of backstory/information. Keep those for other areas where you want the tension to cool down and give the reader a breather.

• Character action: What are your characters doing? Are they all lazing about (is lazing word? it is now). When you're in an intense situation, your body is probably reacting to it, right? Let your characters' bodies react too. Are they tapping nervously, running, fidgeting, taking a swing, ect. The list goes on and on. Don't forget to let them react.

• Dialogue: 1)I am a greedy withhold-er of information when it comes to my dialogue. My character's questions get ignored or cut-off. They get answered in a roundabout way that doesn't actually give them any info. I love keeping my characters (and readers) questioning. They don't always need straight-forward answers to their questions. That'd be kinda boring, wouldn't it? 2)Maybe your MC wants something from another character w/out that second character knowing? Something like this can add underlying tension to a conversation that would be seen as a plain old innocent conversation to the 2nd character. 3) Just about any dialogue that is expressly confrontational will add tension to the conversation. Just make sure the scene calls for a convo that aggressive like that before you throw it in.

• Scene/Chapter endings: The best way to end a scene/chapter, I think, is to make your reading tearing the page to turn and see what happens on the next one. Don't end your chapters with a nice little wrap-up or ya know, your character peacefully falling to sleep. Stuff like that halts tension. And when that happens, I generally want to do what that character is doing...set the book down to curl up and take a nap too. Instead, keep your readers begging for more and staying up late to read that next chapter!

Keep in mind you don't want action, tension, action, tension, action, tension and nothing else in your story. Your readers still need scenes that slow down enough to give them a breather too and give them necessary information as well. You have to learn to balance scenes and, for me, that's something that I've only started learning after lots of practice. (But all that plays more into pacing, so I won't really get into that right now.)

Also, because I don't want to leave it out and I love it so much, how about a short note on sexual tension, too? You ever read a book where you're yelling at the love interest to Just Kiss Her Already! Yeah? Me too. But as much as I love it when they finalllllly do kiss...sometimes (most times) the build-up is what is actually better. All the almost kisses, the glances, the "innocent" touches, the flirty dialogue, or the awkward crap I like you and don't want you to know moments are what MAKE that scene when they finally kiss so great! Right?! Well, guess what? It also adds lots of tension in the characters' relationship. It makes the readers root for them and keep reading until that final moment when those two crazy kids finally kiss--or more, depending on how racy you wanna get ;)

Here's a snippet of a scene in my own WiP with some sexual tension. (Uh...keep in mind this is my first draft, so it's not amazazazing! or anything, but I hope it shows what I'm talking about with the tension aspect. This is a scene shortly after the 'love interest' thought my MC might have been dead.)

He stops walking and looks down at me with an intensity in his eyes that makes my pulse throb faster. His words whisper against my skin. “You can’t imagine how glad I am that you’re back.” I lick my lips, tilting my head up. He draws nearer, until I can almost taste his lips on mine. Suddenly I’ve never wanted anything more than to know the flavors of his mouth. The fear of how a kiss might change our friendship is nothing compared to the yearning building inside me.

“I thought—” Declan’s voice breaks as he cups my face, gaze searching. “I thought I lost you.” His lips part, eyes close, and I follow, leaning my body into his.

I can feel his warm breath mingling with my own, his mouth almost on mine, when a scream rips through the moment, tearing us apart. I jerk back. My head whips around. I look [down the corridor] just in time to see a large shape charging at my little sister.

So now that I've written my longest post ever (thanks to everyone that made it through all that), I hope this helps you with knowing how to add that necessary tension to your stories so you can keep your readers screaming for more!

How to Save a WIP: Getting Stuck in a Corner

Last week, Kristi Cook told us how she tends to write herself into a corner. Today, Kathleen Foucart tells how she writes herself out of the corner!

I have tried being a plotter. I buy books on structure, I fill out beat sheets and read copious blog posts on plotting. In my head, these are the tools I will use to write faster first drafts. There’s just one problem: my writing-brain won’t cooperate.

I think part of this is based on the fact that I don’t consciously “pick” my next WIP. My last two projects started from me typing the wrong sentence in another WIP, realizing it didn’t fit there, opening a new document, and having a completely different character & story come pouring out. I’ll know nothing of the plot. All I know of the MC is what happening in that particular sentence that I’m writing. The stories I have a plan for prior to writing tend not to get written.

Now, what I do isn’t entirely “pantsing.” Once I’m in the thick of the book (usually after about 10,000 words) I have a better idea of what’s going on, where I need to take the MC and what their “ever after” will be like. This is also where things start to go wrong-- because I want a pretty draft. Who doesn’t? Who wants to write things they’ll just cut? So I start to plot. And that’s where I stall out.

Let me be clear here: I’m talking about a first draft. I don’t edit recursively (much) because for me that’s a sticky trap of perfectionism that added at least a year to writing my MFA thesis. I might fix a few typos, a name I changed, etc., but generally, IMO, a first draft is for going forward.

So what do I do when attempting to plot stalls out my brain? I write myself into corners. I write total crap. My characters sit around drinking coffee and eating cereal. I once sent characters towel shopping (FWIW I didn’t finish that particular book). I’ll let the characters lie around and talk, or send them into the forest with no idea how they’ll get back out. I realize that to a lot of writers, this sounds insane. Why would I do that to myself?

I’ve finally come to admit that I’m both a pantser and an over-writer. I write huge first drafts because my brain needs connecting scenes, random dialogue, learning how my characters take their coffee or when they get up in the morning. I need to write myself into random corners-- be they boring corners or “oh, crap, how the hell am I going to get them back out of that???” corners. I can edit out those scenes in the next draft (something I’m working on now, actually), but to make the connections my brain needs to create a cohesive story, I have to have them there to start with.

Basically, this quote sums up how I’ve come to view my first-draft process:

“...I discovered that if I trusted my subconscious, or imagination, whatever you want to call it, and if I made the characters as real and honest as I could, then no matter how complex the pattern being woven, my subconscious would find ways to tie it together -- often doing things far more complicated and sophisticated than I could with brute conscious effort. I would have ideas for 'nodes', as I think of them -- story or character details that have lots of potential connections to other such nodes -- and even though I didn't quite understand, I would plunk them in. Two hundred pages later, everything would back-fit, and I'd say, "Ah, that's why I wrote that.” ~ Tad Williams

 
So if you’re a fellow pantser, take heart. Writing yourself into a corner will not necessarily kill your WIP. In fact, it just might save it. Who knows where your imagination will take you if you let it off the leash? It could be to the perfect answer your subconscious has been working on the whole time. (And if not, you can still edit brilliantly!)

Kathleen Foucart is a YA writer on the path to publication. According to last count, she owns 2,460 books in an 1100 square-foot house that she also sharse with her husband and Great Dane. She lives in Southwest Virginia, has an MFA in Children's Literature from Hollins University and went to undergrad at Virginia Tech. You can find her on her blog and on twitter.

Monday means...

It's time again to check in about our writing goals from last week and what we want to accomplish this week! As always, chime in and let us know what you're up to!!

Danielle: Well, I have this weird hand/arm thing going on--which started pre-retreat and is really bad now. It may be carpal tunnel, but we're not sure yet. Boo. Lots of unhappiness. So I didn't write a lot. I did manage a post (killer!) and an edit of a really big scene from last weekend (win). This week, I'm so busy and have a schedule full of appointments that I'll be lucky if I write anything. But soldier on!

Christina: So someone needs to yell at me. I only wrote about 2k last week and it wasn't even because I was busy or anything. I just got lazy this week. No other excuse really. I did get some crits and reading done for CPs though. This week I really want to stick to getting some writing done. I have today and am planning on getting a good amount of writing done-hopefully. Anyway, someone yell at me if I don't hit at least 4k this week!

Check out how these ways to kill and save a WIP and join us as we continue on.

Kill:

Confidence |||| Pacing |||| Tension ||||| Writing into a Corner |||| Overplotting ||| Shiny New

Save:

Finding Confidence ||| How to Fix Over-plotting |||| Great Secondary Characters