Writing Tips...

Hit Me With Your Best Shot ©
by Linda Broday

So often these days I'm struck by the similarities between the lives we create for our characters and our own. I've noticed over and over how problems come my way and how the frequency of these occurrences correlate with times when I've become too comfortable. It's as if a Higher Power decides I need a shake up to remind me to give thanks for what I have and never to take things for granted. Maybe even these trials are a way of keeping us grounded.

As writers, we've been taught chapter and verse the importance of taking our characters out of their comfort zone. Not only that, but keeping them off balance from page one until the end of our books. It's not that we're sadistic or practicing the art of voodoo with wanton abandon. There's method to our madness. I, for one, don't especially enjoy sticking pins in my hero and heroine when they get too contented, but it's necessary. Readers quickly lose interest in characters who have things easy, who get what they want without working up a bead of sweat.

I can make the argument that each of us have a bit of the dastardly in us. We seem to take delight in the bad fortune of others. Who hasn't felt their hearts dance with joy when the snobby beauty queen falls flat on her face? Or when the guy who speeds around us on the highway gets pulled over? Then let's examine this scenario . . .

We're in a restaurant and the couple in the booth next to us begins to argue. Our ears perk up to hear what they're saying.

This is when I factor in the "curiosity element." We want to know what the fight is about, who's in the wrong because we feel compelled to take sides, who's going to emerge victorious, and what's going to happen next. Maybe something perverse kicks in. Or it could be that it's simply human nature. Like it or not, we're intrigued more by unfavorable circumstances than by harmony. Peace and tranquility on the written page is mundane. We thirst for excitement, mystery, or fear.

In our books, the stories and characters that linger in our minds long after we finish are the ones with the hardest struggles, the hero or heroine who don't get everything they want. Maybe they have to compromise and sometimes their goal changes to something else. But the novels which become truly etched in memory are the ones where the goal seemed impossible. Just as the hero/heroine had it in their grasp, something would happen to push it further away.

It's these trials, and the larger they are the more memorable, that enable growth. The characters become stronger, more resolute in their purpose. It makes for a truly satisfying ending.

A word of caution though - please don't give your characters all trouble. That's tedious and as much a no-no as all good things. We need a blend of joy and heartache, laughter with the pain, and triumph and tragedy to build an unforgettable story and maintain the reader's interest. It's a fine balance, knowing just how much of what to toss into the story. Make your characters hurt, maybe even bleed a little. Make them squirm. Splash a little dirty dishwater on them. Whatever it takes to remove them from their comfort zone. They'll thank you for it in the long run because it'll make the happiness at the end so much more glorious.

Just don't forget to reward them with some good things along the way to make the journey worthwhile.

You're probably wondering how our lives can possibly parallel those we give our story people. I get this observation from my own personal experiences. I always dreamed of the day when I could quit my job for full-time writing. That's what I got . . . but I also was given an incurable disease to go along with it. A reward mixed with adversity.

Then, I ate, slept, and breathed the desire to become published. This last January Dorchester called to buy my novel. Okay, now I'm a published author. And, in May they called to buy a second one which put my first sale in the less-of-a-fluke category. But now, my husband has cancer and we're involved in a life and death struggle. The ending appears very blurred at this point. Can we emerge victorious? Who knows? Only time will tell.

Checks and balances.

We must have problems, seemingly insurmountable waves to conquer, to offset the even keel we all crave. The lessons we learn along the way help us cope with the next bunch of hurricane proportion swells. We grow stronger, more secure in our faith. We decide we can bend without breaking. We're made of steel when we're tested. Same as the characters we love to read about and keep going back to.

Life, either real or made up, is not without challenges. I don't care who you are - rich or homeless, famous or unknown. The surprises lurking around the next corner keep us from becoming bored stiff. Complications appear for a reason besides simply to make life messy. Remember this when a new wave comes crashing over you. It'll only last a while and you may get waterlogged, but you won't drown. Not unless you wimp out and turn loose.

Ride it out.

Eventually, the sun will shine again and you'll burst with pride to find you survived. Maybe your new strength will let you say, "Is that the worst you can throw at me? Ha! Let's see what else you've got."

Whatever you do don't get too comfortable!

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