Drama is the lifeblood of all good storytelling. In our modern world, where audiences have billions of choices regarding how to spend their time? Drama needs to be in everything we create if we hope to get so much as a passing glance.

I don’t care if it’s a novel, a podcast, a documentary, or a food vlog on YouTube. We must differentiate our content, and drama is the best human bait there is. It will hook hard, and hook DEEP.

Period.

Drama can make ANYTHING more interesting (providing we have the option of being mere observers). Seriously, a giant brawl breaks out at a HAM Radio event, and we just happened to be walking by?

Whoa!

I don’t care if it is a class on how to use Excel, itemize your taxes, or ways to rebuild dot-matrix printers.

Should the ‘you-know-what’ hit the proverbial fan?

We’ll go from bee-bopping on autopilot to SUDDENLY? We’re at FULL attention.

Drama engages us one way or another. At the very least, drama gets our attention, but drama could also…get us involved.

***Put a pin in that word ‘involved.’

And YES, humans are weird.

Most of us hate drama at home, in life, at work and find it exhausting. Why? Because we don’t have a choice in the matter. Drama works the exact opposite in life.

We dread the awkward holidays, the tension that hangs in the air when that awful coworker steps into the break room, the friend who’s having another crisis with the guy you’ve told her to dump 75 times already, etc.

But, weirdly enough…

The one thing that will repel us more than the idea of a lutefisk chili dog (in life) is the exact same thing that will hook us faster than cocaine-laced kittens (in story).

Some of you might be confused. Wait, Kristen, a cooking vlog isn’t a story. A documentary isn’t a story. A blog about podcasting isn’t a story.

Cooking shows, documentaries and radio commentators (closest ‘old school’ equivalent of podcast) of ye olden days had more latitude. With tight controls over content and all forms of media, one could afford to be boring.

If you had a documentary about WWII, then teachers could at least force feed it to school kids.

These days? Everything needs at least an element of story (a dose of drama) if it has any HOPE of surviving let alone thriving.

What IS Drama?

Drama is what makes us CARE.

When it comes to creating content, let’s first refine what I mean when I mention ‘drama.’ To do this, we’ll hop over to the definition of ‘drama’ via Merriam Webster (on-line), then skip down to definition #3.

Drama: a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces.

Drama is all about conflict and TENSION (um, STORY). When it comes to writing, one of the main problems I see, with new writers in particular, is they create what I refer to as ‘soap opera drama’ also known as ‘melodrama.’

This is usually a long series of ‘bad things happening,’ and the characters are largely passive. They don’t learn, grow and decide they must change because they don’t really need to.

Can it work? Um, does THE WORLD TURN?

This type of drama (bad things happening) works really well for soap operas, namely because they go on pretty much forever.

Soap operas allow audiences be voyeurs into a world of beautiful, rich, and bored people with nothing better to do than keep stealing each other’s partners, discovering missing twins, plan corporate takeovers, and weirdly coming back from the dead every five or so years.

Land a job writing for daytime soaps or telenovellas? Melodrama is a staple. No one needs to arc (not in the same way), so a simple series of terrible events and limited personal growth is FINE.

FYI: ‘Soap’ operas earned this moniker for a reason. In the early days of radio and television entertainment, soap manufacturers would advertise to housewives during the midday hours. The networks needed stories that commanded interest, but remained simple enough women could keep cleaning and rely on listening.

The creators didn’t want a lot of depth and complexity because it made it too hard for their target audience to multitask.

To this day, most of the places I see soap operas played are venues where patrons are trying to perform multiple tasks—eat lunch, enjoy a pedicure and talk, get their hair colored and cut.

When we humans have to do more than one thing, then a complex plot will lose us.

So I am not casting judgement on soaps (I enjoy telenovellas to practice my Spanish). Just appreciate it is a VERY different form of storytelling.

Back to drama.

Whether it’s a podcast, a blog, a documentary, or even a ‘How-To’ video on YouTube, the ones that are the most successful add in elements of storytelling (drama) that hooks audiences and makes them want to come back for more.

It’s why successful podcasters, YouTubers, documentary stars, or bloggers (at least the ones who really stand apart) frequently do more than act as a simple conduit for information. They become personalities (Chef Gordon Ramsay, culinary expert Andrew Zimmern, expert fisherman/angler Jeremy Wade, survival expert Bear Grylls, etc.).

I was addicted to Ice Road Truckers. WHY? Because it was an unprecedented look into an unusual world and I CARED about the truckers as people. I was there for their story. If 25 years ago, someone would have told me a show about truck drivers would capture international interest? I would have thought they were bonkers.

Drama makes the difference.

When it comes to writing a NOVEL or a SCREENPLAY, however, we need a different form of bait. Authors and screenwriters are working with a finite amount of pages/time. This means, most of us need to rely another version of drama, known as dramatic tension.

What are some simple ways to keep turning up the heat and keep audiences wanting?

1.) Even Good People Do EPICALLY Stupid Things

This is a tough concept for a lot of writers, especially when we’re new. Want to be bored out of your MIND? Go back to some of my first blog posts.

Wait, you can’t. I’ve destroyed the evidence.

I was so scared and thought I needed to be all perfect and lecture-y (it’s a word, y’all). And I had ten followers. Two were my mom because she didn’t ‘get’ the internet—but was really wanting to support me—and the others were spam bots.

I am not making this up.

When I started my first WordPress blog, I actually thought Akismet was a person because he/she was my first commenter. Which I thought was AMAZEBALLS because I hadn’t even TOLD anyone about my blog and here this person with an odd foreign name (Asian? Russian?) was there to encourage me.

PROOF I was awesome.

Then, I wrote a reply to Akismet who then ghosted me. WTH?

And then…

I found out Akismet was the WP plug-in spam filter *face palm*

I…was…an idiot.

But, after a while, with my ‘two moms’ and 25 spam bots as followers? I lightened the hell up, and began to laugh at my mistakes, talk about my weaknesses, joke about thinking AKISMET was my first real fan.

And guess what? People (actual people) not HotCollegeGirlsCheapDesignerBags started commenting.

Remember this tenet in fiction, too.

We don’t connect with other people because of the crazy amazing things they are/do/accomplish. How many of y’all feel like you could be BFFs with Elon Musk or Scarlet Johannson? Not saying they’re ‘bad people.’ Probably super nice.

But, regardless how kind or wonderful these sorts of people might be…how approachable are they?

What about a mom with a toddler who won’t stop screaming in the store? A woman who’s crying in a bathroom stall because she can’t deal with her mom who’s suffering dementia? The guy who’s old truck just broke down, stranding him in the middle of a busy intersection?

What about those people? How much more natural is it to empathize/get involved?

In their weakest moments, we are most likely to get INVOLVED. See? Told you we’d get back to that word .

It’s the same with characters. We bond because we empathize on some level. So feel free to be vulnerable. Yes, you. Sometimes we’re afraid to make our characters vulnerable because we’re terrified it might reflect on us.

When I was a n00b, all my characters were caricatures—brilliant, gorgeous, rich, wise…and utterly BORING.

Give all your characters weaknesses.

Bad decisions are the beating heart of great stories.

If the tension is flagging in a spot, create a moment for a character to be fully human. Let them be afraid, selfish, evasive, ashamed, etc.

You’ll thank me later .

2.) The Road to HELL Really IS Paved with Good Intentions

A great way to generate drama (conflict) is to have a character mean well. Give them good intentions.

Maybe you’re writing a mystery, and there’s a critical piece of information the MC needs to solve the problem. BUT it would require another character to possibly divulge someone else’s shame/secret.

Another character means well when she fails to reveal her married best friend had a brief affair with the murder victim. She didn’t intend on having this sort of knowledge. But, though it could be (and probably should be) a key piece of intel, she runs interference so as to protect her friend’s reputation.

And she’ll likely do all the mental gymnastics of how this ‘information’ is irrelevant…until she can no longer live with herself and has to make the tough choices.

Is there a way for your MC, your BBT (core antagonist/villain—yes, even baddies can be sympathetic), another supporting character to mean well…only for it to be the worst thing they could do?

• The mom who doesn’t want to tell her adult daughter she has cancer because she doesn’t want to spoil her wedding.
• A coworker who doesn’t want to mention that his project manager once fudged the books to cover up a single mom’s mistake so she’d keep her job.
• Maybe a simple peasant afraid to mention her neighbor has healing powers for fear that her friend might be executed for using magic.

Y’all get the gist.

Get creative. People (characters) can do some pretty foolish/terrible stuff, all the while fully intending to do GOOD! Should your story start feeling flat, can someone withhold critical information? Maybe spill the tea on another person’s private trauma, struggle or shame?

Anytime the characters are having life too easy?

Toss a wrench at them.

3.) Drama is the Path Untraveled (OR Blocked)

Humans are notorious for taking the easy route, so here’s the hard truth. In life and in fiction, nothing interesting happens in the comfort zone.

The point of ‘story’ is to force the MC to take a road they never would have chosen without the inciting incident (then later external/internal prodding).

In fiction, everything should be tough. NOTHING should come easily…ever.

*gives scary eyes*

Your characters are willing to do ANYTHING…just not THAT.

Then make them do THAT.

Example:

Say I’m writing a romance. I am riffing here, so…anyway.

My super wealthy love interest falls for a struggling actress he met when she was fired by the caterer at some fancy event. In the story, at some point, my couple comes together, then has the necessary falling out. She ditches him.

To succeed—find his true love—he must get directions to where she lives so he can make ‘whatever’ right before she accepts a marriage proposal from her ex (and childhood love) who claims he’s changed (stakes/ticking clock).

If this is the case? Then the only way forward has to be TOUGH.

Make it worse until you make it weird.

I’d make the ONLY person who knows the intel (where gal lives) a person—that any other time before this moment in the story—he would have avoided like a room full of snotty toddlers.

Maybe? A homeless guy (also known as a threshold guardian). Then, I’d make sure this threshold guardian demanded my MC’s absurdly expensive shoes in return for information.

I need to ask myself, “How badly does my guy want directions?” Is he willing to turn over his $15,000 custom shoes and walk in his $900 socks through trash, broken glass and maybe discarded needles to find the woman he loves?

Why wouldn’t I simply have the homeless guy demand cash?

Because that would be too easy for the MC. He wouldn’t have to openly compromise his pride.

Path untraveled? Being humble and unable to simply buy his way to what he wants. Sure, my wealthy guy has to pay, but not on his terms and in the way he’d least likely choose.

Also, if I’ve developed my female love interest who’s clearly from the ‘wrongest’ part of town possible, then that homeless man could be an ally. She’s kind to him, possibly a friend.

He becomes a deeper character because he knows ‘Rich Guy’ hurt his gal pal. His ‘easy road’ would be to simply shake ‘Rich Guy’ down for cash. But, since he’s a true friend, he wants to test if this dude’s love is genuine.

Double drama bonus there.

Drama Addicts

When we make the roads too easy, the choices too clear, the decisions too wise, we’re robbing the audience of a great experience. Good fiction involves personal growth—character arc—and we don’t call them ‘growing fluffy puppy kisses.’ NO! We call them ‘growing PAINS.’

So make ’em suffer. Audiences will love you all the more for it.

What are your thoughts? I LOVE hearing from you!

What are some great stories (movies, film, series) you can think of that about killed you with the tension? Remember hating the writers and loving them too for making you suffer?

Do you struggle with making life/solutions too easy for your characters? Struggle with that sagging ACT TWO?

What are some shows you watched SOLELY because they added in a bit of story and made you CARE? ‘River Monsters’ is another one for me. It’s probably the only fishing show I’ve ever watched in the history of ever since I hate water and don’t eat fish…but I was hooked.

*bada bump snare*

I LOVE hearing from you!

To prove it and show my love, for the month of NOVEMBER, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).

Classes

The Edge: How to Write Mystery, Suspense & Thriller is available ON DEMAND (sign up HERE and use Thrill10 for $10 off). The recording turned out FANTASTIC, so check it out. 

***More new classes will be available next post. I’ll also give winners for September and October. We’ve been dealing with power outages and tech issues so I am behind. Apologies.

The post Drama: Three Simple Ways to HOOK Audiences appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Inner demons can be one of the toughest concepts for new (and even not-so-new) authors to grasp. Yet, inner demons are essential to create a riveting story that connects with the audience.

Frankly, characters with no blindspots or baggage are B-O-R-I-N-G.

Bad decisions make great stories.

We humans tend to resent perfect people and, instead, connect more intimately and authentically via shared flaws. Audiences love rooting for their favorite character to overcome his weaknesses and come out the other side better and stronger than when the adventure began.

It’s like when they win, we win.

Without this internal angst, a story falls flat and characters become forgettable, interchangeable plot puppets.

In all my years working with writers, one of the greatest weakness I’ve witnessed is that new writers mistake melodrama (soap opera drama) for story drama.

Yes, this really is related to inner demons.

Melodrama works well for soap operas, but spells death for a novel.

Soap operas don’t require a solid core story problem with definitive structure…just great hair, fabulous makeup, and a cast with more issues than every Dr. Phil guest combined (and little or no interest in getting rid of those issues).

In soaps, it is perfectly acceptable to point out personal demons with neon lights.

Why? Because while problems are constantly being talked about (via fights, gossip, confessions)…nothing is ever fully resolved.

Ever.

And I am in no way dissing soap operas. There’s a good reason they’ve lasted as long as they have. Come on, Days of Our Lives has been around since 1965.

Yet, this type of storytelling is designed to hook in a very superficial way. Also, what audiences will tolerate in a television show will drive them bonkers in a book.

STOP TELLING ME THINGS I ALREADY KNOW!

NOTHING IS HAPPENING!

*primal screams*

In soaps, the characters have personal demons, but not really INNER demons. If the demons are obscured (as is necessary in a novel) then audiences couldn’t miss two…ten years of episodes and yet still be able to catch up in a week.

This is why there’s a lot of ‘As you know, Bob’ dialogue. The repetition is there to help anyone who’s missed some episodes to get back on track with the show.

Soap Opera writing is designed to be overt.

Storylines are crafted to keep going on and on with only enough ‘closure’ to introduce a new hook (evil twin, amnesia, insider trading, hostile takeover, murder, infidelity….*looks to drop-down menu*).

Novels, on the other hand, don’t have the luxury of rambling on for decades. Unlike soap operas, novels have to actually end.

***Wow, the things I learned with my first novel.

This means we (the author) must introduce a core problem (early) that we’ll resolve—fully or at least satisfactorily—by the final page.

Sudsy Demons

Why am I bothering to talk about soap operas? Because I see A LOT of soap opera writing in new manuscripts, and I want y’all to understand why this style works on screen but not in novels.

In soap operas, it’s perfectly acceptable for a character to wax rhapsodic about his or her personal demons in cheesy monologues.

It has to do with the medium.

Soap operas got the name ‘soap operas’ because the stories were originally created for housewives to listen to when doing the wash or cleaning.

Initially, these stories played on the radio, but the storytelling style didn’t change much even when soaps shifted to television.

Writers scripted stories and dialogue in such a way that the audience didn’t have to be LOOKING at the screen to keep up (which is why you’ll notice there are a lot of characters calling one another by name which—in life and in a novel—is plain weird).

‘As you know, Anastasia, the reason Fabio and I had to run away to Cabo is because Dr. Fandango has been hiding the fact that Fabio has multiple personalities. And yes, I confess. I helped Fabio escape Dr. Fandango’s facility. Why? Because Dr. Fandango refuses to admit he’s my biological father. I know abandonment, Anastasia. And I want Dr. Fandango to know it, too….’

*dramatic music here*

As a Texan? I LOVE me some Telemundo. Telenovelas are da BOMB! Everything is over the top, and even though my Spanish skills are rudimentary at best, I can become easily addicted in ONE episode…

Unless We’re Writing Episodes of As the World Turns…

We’ll need to deliver those personal demons with a little—okay a LOT—more finesse. We can’t be as blatant or the story will be…um, weird.

This means we must have a solid plot because the problem with inner demons is they are, well…inner. The author’s job then, is to draw the demons out (via a STORY PROBLEM) so they can be overcome.

Plot and structure is how we do that.

Did I Mention Inner Demons are INNER?

Many new writers begin their ‘novel’ with a character doing a lot of internalization and thinking and thinking and more thinking and pondering over personal issues.

That, or the MC is fully self-actualized and well aware of his/her ‘issues’ and talks about them…a lot.

This is problematic for a number of reasons.

First, the entire POINT of the story problem is to shove the MC out of their comfort zone and into a place where he or she has no choice but to face the inner demons or LOSE BIG.

When we begin a story with an MC who’s already fully aware of his shortcomings, this character will quickly grow tedious and ring false. This is also a formula for a character readers will HATE.

How many of you LOVE people who KNOW they have a problem, but still do dumb crap anyway?

What, no takers? Thought so.

Secondly, revealing inner demons too early—and spelling them out in Crayon—spoils the mystery/adventure. Part of what readers love about a good story is that, like a therapist, we see what the MC’s issues are long before they do.

The main reason we turn pages until three in the morning is we want to find out if the MC figures out their problem before it’s too late.

Thirdly? When we introduce the story with inner demons—our MC droning on about emotional damage—it is too SOON. We (readers) just don’t care.

Nothing personal, but we have our own problems. We don’t have the time or energy to give a fig about a stranger’s drama.

The story problem is what hooks us and makes us care. So about these inner demons, remember…

Demons Hide in the Blind Spot

One key thing to remember about inner demons is they hide really, really well. If they didn’t, then shrinks would starve and be treated like writers. 

Wow, you’re a psychotherapist? Really? What’s your ‘real’ job? Seriously, people PAY you to listen to their problems? 

This is another reason we don’t begin with a protagonist thinking about her inner demons. Odds are, she is oblivious they are even there. She isn’t yet that self-actualized.

Denial is more than a river in Africa.

In fact, the stronger the denial, the better the story (or, if you’re a therapist, the better the $$$$$). This is why your protagonist, if pitted against the antagonist in Act One, should lose. He/She has not grown enough in order to defeat the core story problem

Plot is What Exorcises the Demons

The plot is the crucible that will fire this demon to the surface so the character can then defeat it. This is why understanding plotting becomes so vital. A great plot problem is going to sprout directly from that inner demon. Why?

Because fiction is the path of greatest resistance.

What good is a plot problem unless it pits the character against her deepest flaw?

Some weaknesses might be fairly obvious—grief, betrayal or addiction. The problem, however, is no one wants to read 300+ pages of someone whining about a loss or a compulsion. We would probably want to smother such a person to get her to shut up.

Whining is not a plot.

Also remember that there is a reason for the grief, feeling of betrayal or addiction, and THAT is the real inner demon that must show its head.

There has to be an outside challenge that forces the character to eventually choose to remain the same or to evolve (Act III).

You gonna keep hiding in a bottle? Or are you gonna face/defeat WHY you drink so you can walk your daughter down the aisle?

Not all inner demons are as obvious, though. In fact, the tricky demons can look a hell of a lot like our greatest strengths.

Remember that every character strength has a corresponding weakness.

***For a SUPER efficient way to find interesting blind spots, check out Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s AMAZING Positive Trait Thesaurus. There’s also the Negative Trait Thesaurus. I recommend you just treat yourself and buy the entire collection. You’ll thank me later.

Anyway, inner demons can be a real bugger to spot because these ‘strengths’ have served the character really well (or at least the character believes they have).

In fact, these inner demons might be the very reason the character has always been successful…until you (Evil Author Overlord) hand her a problem where the old tools no longer work.

New level, new devil, baby .

Willingness to work eighty hours a week is fabulous for climbing the corporate ladder, but what about keeping a marriage together?

Hmmmm….

Positives Can Be Negatives

Let’s say our imaginary protagonist has a heart of gold. We’ll call her Helpful Hanna for today’s purposes.

HH is always there to help a friend, lend an ear, or fix a problem no matter what. Helping is the core of her identity.

But what happens when, one day, she has the chance to pursue her dream?

She decides to open her own cupcake bakery (but over time) will come to realize that she’s spending so much time helping other people that her bakery’s doors might never open.

If she’s rescuing others at all hours and no matter the inconvenience, how long until she crumbles under the pressure?

Before her cupcake bakery dream, she had the luxury of bending more than the karma sutra to lend a hand.

The plot, however, forces her to finally see that others are actually using her. She might even realize that she wasn’t helping after all…that she was really enabling or even controlling.

Maybe those around her never expected her to constantly help and would actually love a chance to give back to her for a change.

*mind blown*

Hannah must eventually choose.

Eventually, the story should force Hannah to a crossroad—either she can do all the things for all the people, or she can have her dream.

But she cannot have both.

The pressure is what makes Helpful Hanna acknowledge her inner demon and face what’s really driving her compulsive need to help.

Perhaps Hannah’s ‘helping’ is more about power, control, or being ‘needed.’ Could be a lot of things.

When the outside challenge—opening a cupcake bakery—reveals the cracks in Hannah’s core identity, what will she DO?

We answer this question in Act Three.

See, before Hannah had a dream of a cupcake bakery, she could be there for everyone, anytime and all the time.

The plot problem (in the form of a dream), however, drives the demon to the surface and our MC has to learn or lose.

Notice how the problem (outside goal) helps this become a story, not just 300 pages of tedious navel-gazing. We show Hannah has a problem, then show her realizing she has a problem, and then show her overcoming that problem.

Flawed People Make Fabulous Fiction

In the end, remember that inner demons make a better story. And not every book requires some huge, over-the-top trauma.

My entire planet was wiped out, and I am the last of my kind.

Yeah…ok. I got head lice in third grade. Was super embarrassing.

In fact, those ‘smaller’ demons—sibling rivalry, abandonment, false shame, false guilt, family expectations—can be far more resonant because the audience can relate.

What are your thoughts? I LOVE hearing from you!

Did you struggle with soap opera drama early on in your writing? I know I did. Hey, there is a LEARNING curve to this.

Have you ever been hooked on a soap opera? Which one?

In college, I made fun of my roommate for watching Days of Our Lives and would pick on her during the show. A week later? I was changing my class schedule so I could find out if Bo and Hope were EVER going to get back together.

*hangs head in shame*

Do you feel a little better about plot? Does it make it simpler to see that the ‘inner demons’ don’t have to be huge to be HUGE?

Heck, I still need therapy for the dumb stuff adults said to me when I was a kid.

Too bad you aren’t as pretty as Such-And-Such.

Or as an adult.

You’re a writer? How cute. Well, your cousin—the one who married the astronaut—just gave up fashion modeling to cure cancer. Isn’t that fantastic?

*screams*

Surely I am not the ONLY one from a jacked up family. Feel free to share!

…really.

Anyway…

Just FYI, I’m extending the CLEARANCE sale a little longer, until new classes begin. We need to test the new Event Espresso license and this site’s functionality (we’ve updated everything). If you need a good plotting or character class, NOW is the time to get it.

I have to free up space on our servers. All my classes are detailed and average 2-3 hours. These are On Demand classes you can watch at your leisure and have fun while you learn (for classes, scroll down).

This not only is to help you guys get the training you need (affordable summer school), but it will open up room for the new recordings of new classes.

Please take advantage of the sale! I rarely drop prices this low.

After July 17th, these classes will no longer be for sale (and will be slated for deletion).

Some, I will offer again later in the year. Others? I won’t be offering again the same way (will be likely splitting them into two classes because they ran long).

Thanks so much for your support!

ON DEMAND CLEARANCE ON BRANDING & CRAFT CLASSES!

Available until July 17th, 2019

CLEARANCE Branding, Social Media & Sales Classes

ON DEMAND T.K.O. BUNDLE: Branding, Blogging & Sales for Authors

$99 (Regularly $165)

ON DEMAND Brand Boss: Branding for Authors

$35 (Regularly $55)

ON DEMAND Sales for Writers: Sell Books Not Your SOUL

$35 (Regularly $55)

ON DEMAND Blogging for Authors

$35 (Regularly $55)

Also Offering:

ON DEMAND Social Schizophrenia: Building a Brand WITHOUT Losing Your Mind

$35 (Regularly $55)

CLEARANCE Craft Classes

Plot Boss: Writing Books Readers Want to BUY!

$35 (Regularly $55)

Fiction Addiction: The ‘Secret’ Ingredient Readers Crave

$35 (Regularly $55)

Story Master: From Dream to DONE

$35 (Regularly $55)

The Art of Character: Creating Dimensional ‘People’ in Fiction

$35 (Regularly $55)

Beyond Bulletproof Barbie: Creating Strong Female Characters for a Modern World

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The post Inner Demons: Soap Opera Drama vs. Story Drama appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

The post The Doctor is in the House–Novel Diagnostics appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Last week we talked about the antagonists that drive the action thread of the story. This week, we are going to talk about a different type of scene antagonist…the antagonist that drives the inner change of a character. This will conclude this series on antagonists. To write truly great stories that will resonate long after the reader puts down our book, we are wise to consider how a character will emotionally grow and change over the course of the adventure.

All good stories have ONE core problem that must be resolved. The story’s main antagonist–what I like to call the Big Boss Troublemaker–is responsible for creating this problem. Our protagonist, if pitted against the BBT in Act One, would fail. Why? He or she has not grown enough to be able to survive the Big Boss Battle. Protagonists who are strong enough to win at the beginning make for boring fiction.

Most real people are not self-aware enough to realize they have problems. In fact most real people spend years in therapy to come to the realization that they might actually be responsible for their own problems. Most real people do not wake up one day and say, “Wow. You know. I think today I am going to change.” Real people need some outside event or person to create discomfort that makes us change. Nasty breakups teach us not to take our partners for granted. Family members who move onto our couch and won’t leave teach us how to set effective boundaries. Credit card fees and penalties teach us to get better at paying the bills on time.

Great fiction takes real life and removes all the dull parts….but it still must reflect something of real life or it will ring untrue to the reader. Characters that are far too self-aware and who spend page after page thinking and mulling over inner monologues seem contrived and false. At best, the victory will come without facing any genuine opposition, which equals DULL STORY. We love books because of the opposition. It is the battle, the struggle, the darkest moment when all seems lost and how can they ever survive…THAT is why we read fiction.

Too many new writers have no BBT. Thus, there is no clear story problem. Since there is no clear story problem, it is impossible to create dramatic tension. All that is left is the dross of self-indulgent melodrama. Look to all the GREAT stories, the ones that will be told for generations. Does the author keep the finish line a secret? To be revealed with a twist ending?

No. All protagonists have very clear goals.

Lord of the Rings—Drop the Ring of Power into Mount Doom before Sauron grows strong enough to cast all of Middle Earth into perpetual darkness.

Finding Nemo—Find Nemo before Darla the Fish-Killer’s birthday.

Silence of the Lambs—Rescue the senator’s daughter and stop Buffalo Bill from killing more girls.

Star Wars—Defeat the (Sith) Emperor.

Fried Green Tomatoes—Stand up to abusive family.

Joy Luck Club—Go to China to meet lost twin sisters and relay the news of Mom’s death.

Coma—Find out who is responsible for killing patients and stop them.

The Road—Make it to the ocean without losing the essence of humanity.

The Hunger Games—Win the Hunger Games.

Good stories have clear finish lines. Better still, great stories have protagonists that grow and change over the course of the story. In the beginning, the protag lacks that fundamental ingredient that will allow him to triumph at the end. Thus, the trials ahead will fire out impurities and strengthen the character to make him fit for battle. Often there are allies and mentors who will serve as scene antagonists to drive the necessary change.

Remember, an antagonist is not necessarily a bad guy or villain. An antagonist merely has goals that conflict with what the protagonist wants. In the beginning, what the protagonists want are not always what is best for them. This is why allies and mentor characters are so vital.

Last week we looked at the children’s movie Finding Nemo. We studied how other incidental characters like Bruce the Great White in Recovery served to drive the story’s momentum when it came to the action thread. Today we will look at the protagonists’ inner arcs and how change is created.

What is the goal of Finding Nemo? Um, find Nemo. But the log-line might look something like this.

A neurotic fish father must swim to Sydney, Australia to rescue his son from a dentist’s fish tank before Darla the Fish-Killer’s birthday.

At the very beginning of the movie, we are given a few minutes of back-story. Marlin loses his wife and all their eggs (save one–Nemo) to a barracuda. This has made Marlin overprotective and overly afraid of…everything. He is smothering his son Nemo and not allowing him to mature.

Conversely, Nemo has a damaged fin from the barracuda attack. His father tells him repeatedly how this handicaps him and that is why he needs to stay safe under Dad’s control. Nemo, deep down, believes that he is handicapped, but it doesn’t stop him from resenting his father’s overprotective control.

In fact, it is this very resentment that births the story problem. Out of defiance, Nemo swims off the reef to touch the boat. This is what gets him snared in the diver’s fish net.

So in this movie, we have two story lines. Marlin’s and Nemo’s.

Marlin doesn’t trust anyone and he is a hopeless control freak. Thus, right after the inciting incident, who becomes Marlin’s ally?

Dori, the Forgetful Fish. Dori suffers short-term memory loss. She is a happy-go-lucky optimist who never gives up. She is exactly the ally Marlin needs to teach him to lighten up, let go of control, and to learn to look at the positive. Dori is Marlin’s mirror opposite. He is controlling and negative, where she is easygoing and positive. Dori is exactly the example Marlin needs to mend his ways.

Scene after scene we see how Dori serves the role of the antagonist.Heroes are not made in the comfort zone. Dori’s main role is to continually challenge Marlin and shove him repeatedly out of his comfort zone so that he grows and changes.

Marlin wants to moan and complain and give up when the one clue to finding his son drops into a deep sea trench. Dori starts singing, “Just keep swimming” and encourages Marlin to continue the adventure. Thus, we have a conflict lock. Marlin wants to give up. Dori wants to go after the clue. Only one party can have her way. If Marlin wins this battle of wills, the story is over and Nemo is doomed.

Dori continually places Marlin in a position of having to trust. She makes him overcome the greatest weakness he has….his need to control. His need to control his boy was what created the problem and is why Nemo was lost to begin with. Marlin must learn to let go of control to save his boy.

On the other side of things, Nemo awakens in a fish tank in the diver dentist’s office. It is in this tank we see the ticking clock. Nemo must get away before Darla the Fish-Killer’s birthday. Nemo is her intended gift and Darla’s last gift died from being shaken. Who becomes Nemo’s mentor? Gill. An angel fish with a damaged fin who won’t let Nemo make excuses.

Marlin must overcome his need to control and trust Dori to get to Sydney Harbor.

Nemo must listen to Gil and believe in himself in order to escape the dentist’s office.

Both parties must grow emotionally and overcome their greatest weakness in order to be victorious in the end. Scene antagonists are responsible for turning floundering helpless protagonists into heroes.

A good exercise is to watch movies. Try to figure out what element the protagonist needs to develop to be victorious in the Big Boss Battle. Who are the scene antagonists driving that change? How do events drive that inner change? Stories where the protag wakes up and has an ah-ha! are boring. That is lazy writing. Outside forces must challenge the protagonist to change, grow and rise to the occasion. Fiction is the path of greatest resistance.

Some of THE BEST books to help refine your craft–Bob Mayer’s Novel Writer’s Toolkit, Larry Brooks’s Story Engineering, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat, James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure, and Les Edgerton’s Hooked.

What are your favorite stories and why? How did the protagonist change? Is it more clear who and what drove that change? Any advice? Suggestions? Questions?

I love hearing from you! And to prove it and show my love, for the month of May, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. If you leave a comment, and link back to my blog, and mention my book We Are Not Alone in your blog…you get your name in the hat THREE times. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly.

I will pick a winner every week for a critique of your first five pages. At the end of May I will pick a winner for the grand prize. A free critique from me on the first 15 pages of your novel. Good luck!

Note: I am keeping all the names for a final GRAND, GRAND PRIZE of 30 Pages (To be announced) OR a blog diagnostic. I look at your blog and give feedback to improve it. For now, I will draw weekly for 5 page edit, monthly for 15 page edit.

Important Announcements

Today is a holiday, so I will announce last week’s winner and the winner for May on Wednesday.

Make sure you join our LOVE REVOLUTION over on Twitter by following and participating in the #MyWANA Twibe. Read this post to understand how this #MyWANA will totally transform your life and your author platform.

Together Everyone Achieves More!!!! SUPPORT THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF AMERICA! Spread the word and save a life. Sigma Force saves puppies and kittens, too. Ahhhh.

In the meantime, I hope you pick up copies of my best-selling books We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media and Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Writer . Both books are recommended by the hottest agents and biggest authors in th biz. My methods teach you how to make building your author platform FUN. Build a platform and still have time left over to write more great books! I am here to change your approach, not your personality.

Happy writing!

Until next time….

The post Scene Antagonists–The Making of a Hero appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Anyone in publishing will tell you that one of the most important parts of your novel is the beginning. As an editor I hear, “Oh, but wait until you get to the good part on page 50. This is all the lead up.” Um, no. Doesn’t work that way. You might have a humdinger on page 50, but you are competing against authors who hook readers in the first 1-10 pages.

Many agents freely confess that they can tell by page five if they will even bother reading the entire sample submitted. I know. Nothing has changed. I spoke at the DFW Writers Workshop Conference this past weekend and sat through the Agent Q & A. Agents have a lot on their plate, so they are looking for a reason to put a story down. Why?

Because agents are out to get you. They are really psychic vampires who feast on the crushed dreams of writers. Muah ha ha ha! Kidding!

To be blunt, agents love great writing. They also want to be good at what they do and make at least a living doing it (like the rest of us :D). How do they do this? By helping writers sell a lot of books. They understand that a novel’s beginning is the “hook” that will make or break a novel when it comes to readers. Agents want writers to succeed, and they know that excellent beginnings are vital to selling many, many books.

I actually believe that, as e-readers become more popular that beginnings will become more important than ever. I know that I frequently download free samples. I figure if a writer can interest me (sell me) in 3 pages, then I will read 5. If she can hook me in 5 I will read the free 30 pages. If I make it through 30, then this writer deserves my money and my time. But, remember, she had to make it past 3. Good writers do their homework and know what goes into a great beginning. I recommend studying great beginnings so you know what they look like.

So what makes a great beginning? Glad you asked. There are a lot of components that can go into a great beginning, but I am only going to discuss one of those components today—normal world. I believe if you can understand why normal world is important, the functions it serves, then you will be less eager to cut it out completely.

Normal world is vital. It is easy to feel the pressure to be interesting and begin our books with a car chase or a shoot-out.

**Hey, there isn’t a mistake I haven’t made as a writer or seen as an editor. Lighten up. It’s okay to goof up and live to laugh about it. The important thing is to learn and do better.

We as writers are so eager to be interesting in the first three lines, that we can easily forget an essential component to fiction…the normal world. Not wanting to bore readers, we toss them in a tank of sharks and grin—That’ll hook ‘em for sure.

The problem with that thinking? When we thrust a reader right into the heart of the action immediately, they haven’t been given a chance to care about or connect with any of our characters. Thus, what can easily happen is that we end up creating melodrama instead of drama. That is a bad situation, not conflict. What is the difference? Read last Monday’s post .

My favorite example of a story that desperately needed normal world is the movie The Crazies. The inhabitants of a small Iowa town are plagued by insanity then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply (via IMDb). This plot idea had the potential to be an excellent movie (I know it was a remake, but haven’t seen the earlier version). I feel this movie would have made it to a whole other cinematic level had the director made one vital change. I wish he would have kept us in normal world longer. Why?

We didn’t get a chance to meet and connect with any of the people who lost their minds and essentially became zombies that the protagonist had to put down like rabid dogs. The director had a great opportunity to create some real drama…but he missed it. He got too focused on zombies and forgot that the true drama came from the main character being forced to kill people he’d known and cared about his entire life…but we the audience didn’t really care. Oh, granted, we cared on a superficial level, but we hadn’t spent any real time with these characters, so when they died it didn’t make us emotional.

The director didn’t have to take long in normal world, either. Star Wars proves that. Who didn’t cry when Skywalker’s family was found dead? But we saw a scene with the aunt and uncle alive and well and they were nice people who we kind of liked…and it moved us to see them butchered. So keeping these movies in mind….

1. Normal world lays the foundation for genuine drama.

Les Edgerton, in his book Hooked explores this problem in detail if you would like to read more, but to keep it short and sweet I’m going to explain it this way. Most of us have driven down a highway at around rush hour, so picture this scenario. We notice emergency lights ahead.  The oncoming traffic lane is shut down and looks like a debris field. Two mangled cars lay in ruins, and there are still figures draped with blue blankets surrounded by somber EMTs. Do you feel badly? Unless you’re a sociopath, of course you do.

Now…

You look into that same oncoming lane, and one of the cars you recognize. It belongs to the nice family you chatted with in line at Wal Mart when you had to wait 40 minutes in the customer service line. You even helped the dad load groceries and put away their cart so the mom could buckle in their babies. You had to stop for gas, but 30 minutes ago that family was alive and well and now the coroner’s van is showing on the scene.

Before you cared…now you are connected.

That is how good characterization makes the difference. If we open our story with this gut-wrenching scene in a hospital where someone is dying, we are taking a risk. Readers will certainly care on a human level, but not on the visceral level that makes them have to close the book and get tissue.

Whether in books or on film, this is why normal world is critical. It gives the observer a chance to see the world as it would have remained had the inciting incident never happened. Would Luke Skywalker have been nearly as interesting if his aunt and uncle hadn’t been killed? And since we as the viewing audience were afforded a glimpse of Skywalker’s loved ones at the beginning of the movie, it had more impact on us when they were brutally murdered. It also helped rally us to Skywalker’s side as he set off on his journey.

2. Normal world gives the audience a baseline for character.  

By understanding how our hero is at the beginning, we also get a picture of what must be developed by the climax so our hero can be victorious. In the beginning of Romancing the Stone Joan Wilder is a single older woman who lives alone with her cat and writes about love and adventure because she has neither…and she is too afraid to pursue them.

Because we see normal world, we then recognize the inciting incident when we see it—the phone call from sister who has been kidnapped. Additionally, because we have witnessed this fraidy-cat writer, we observers are now seated in real conflict as we wonder—How on earth is she going to pull this off? We have seen this woman who is afraid of everything and wonder HOW she will develop the courage she will need to triumph. We are…hooked.

Joan’s life from the moment she receives the call from her sister will no longer be the same. A series of events have been set in motion and conflicts must be resolved to restore the natural order of things. But, since we are storytellers, we know that we must leave the world better than when we found it. Joan, at the end of her quest, must have love and courage to live the life of adventure she only could dream about in the beginning, which leads to my next point…

Normal world gives us an opportunity to see the character’s starting point on his or her arc. Joan at the beginning was afraid of her own shadow. Joan at the end has been tested and tried by bad guys, jungles, snakes, and alligators, and has come out victorious. She as a person had to change in order to triumph. Your protagonist, if pitted against the antagonist in the opening scene (for one reason or another) should FAIL. Why? Because then victory at the end is far sweeter.

3. Normal world also allows the reader to see what is at stake.

In The Fellowship of the Ring the story begins with the Hobbits. The wizard Gandalf the Grey is riding into town for a visit with fireworks in tow. There is a reason for these initial scenes of carefree laughter on a beautiful summer day. We as the audience get to see what is to be lost should our heroes fail.

In the beginning we witness a lush green world that is lovely and innocent…but in danger. We are told in the prologue that the Ring of Power was not destroyed. Thus the Ring represents an invisible, but ever-present threat. But, because we witnessed this world in an almost perfected state, it is more psychologically disturbing to us as the darkness grows. As the tale unfolds and Sauron grows stronger, we see progressively that the days literally grow darker and darker, the shadows deepen, and no one smiles or laughs any more.

At the end of the trilogy, in Return of the King we get to the ending scenes and see that the world of innocence and joy have been saved, but we see it has come at a price. The little Hobbits who were so naïve and bedazzled by the dreams of adventure are now war veterans, home from a journey that no one in the Shire will ever fully comprehend.

We see them sitting quiet at the table. We hear the unspoken words between them because we witnessed the darkness they faced and defeated. We, the audience comprehend the price they paid so the world could remain innocent. Yet, we know it was all worth it in that, unlike the beginning, the Ring will never threaten this world again. The world is restored…only better.

Points to remember:

1. Normal world lays the foundation for genuine drama—we have to get to know the characters in order to care and be vested in them.

2. Normal world gives us a character baseline—we need an initial glimpse to see how our hero is not in a position to succeed in the beginning. This creates genuine conflict in that we want to read the story to figure out how that protagonist could ever take down the antagonist. For a deeper understanding of HOW to do this, I recommend Bob Mayer’s on-line character workshop that starts this week, so sign up now for $20.

3. Normal world lets us see what is at stake—We need to see what could be lost. We also need to see what the hero may be clinging to that is keeping him from answering the call to adventure. The inciting incident must pry away something meaningful (Joan Wilder and security) or offer blessed escape (Harry Potter—escape from abuse).

What are some of the great beginnings either in film or in books? How did they hook you and why? Can you think of reasons a film or book didn’t grab your attention? What beginnings would you recommend we study and why?

I love hearing from you. And to prove it, I am going to sweeten last month’s deal and draw every week from the list of names. What do you win? My critique of the first five pages of your novel. At the end of the month, I will draw for the winner of the big prize. A critique of your first 15 pages. That give FIVE of you guys an opportunity to see if your work will hook an agent.

Names? What? Kristen, what are you talking about? Here is how you can win for those who don’t know. 

Everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. If you leave a comment, and link back to my blog, and mention WANA in your blog…you get your name in the hat THREE times. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. February’s winner will be announced on this Friday’s blog.

Happy writing!

Until next time…

In the meantime, if you don’t already own a copy, my best-selling book We Are Not Alone–The Writers Guide to Social Media is recommended by literary agents and endorsed by NY Times best-selling authors. My method is free, fast, simple and leaves time to write more books.

Also, I highly recommend the Write It Forward Workshops. My workshop about building brand starts this week Sign up….like, NOW. Build your brand the right way. Also, as I mentioned earlier, NY Times Best-Selling Author Bob Mayer is teaching on character, too. Great stuff for the month of March. For $20 a workshop, you can change your destiny….all from the comfort of home.

The post "In the Beginning" Part One–Normal World appeared first on Kristen Lamb.