Monday Musings 11-7-22

I spent this weekend signing books at RI Comic Con, likely my last one in RI for a while. I’m always exhausted on the Monday following a Con, and this Monday is no exception, but it’s always worth it!

I love interacting with readers, aspiring writers, and fans. I especially love moderating panels and facilitating discussions on some of my favorite topics like world-building and character development. This year, we had several people stop by to tell us they always look forward to the panels we host. Super gratifying!

Character development, in the context of storytelling, is a great discussion topic, and our panel titled “A Hero, an Anti-hero, and a Villain Walk into a Bar” generated quite a lively conversation. If you missed the panel but are interested in the topic, here’s a post I wrote for another blog that captures some of the main points:

The Intersection of Plot and Character Development

It’s fun to explore the various aspects of creating a character’s backstory, defining and developing the hero, the anti-hero, and the villain, and considering the places where plot and character development intersect. Really, this last part is where the good stuff happens!

Developing your character’s backstory helps bring authenticity and depth to them. It helps explain why they are the way they are, and how they got to this point. But, your character doesn’t remain stagnant throughout their adventure. All the heartbreak, strife, love affairs, battles, and mistakes have an impact. They emerge on the other side of their grand tale a changed person. 

An Abridged Hero’s Journey

Think of it this way – a character’s essential character, and their backstory, informs the plot. Then, as the story moves forward, the plot pushes the character’s development. We can use a Cliff Notes version of The Hero’s Journey as an example. We meet the hero of the story just as they are ready to leave home on some sort of quest, adventure, or journey. Their life experience and personality up to this point helps determine how they respond to this call to action. Are they reluctant, over-eager, clueless, or jaded? Why?

Once the adventure begins, the character will meet challenges and have experiences that will further shape them. Their responses are initially influenced by their past and by their personality, but during the course of their journey, growth happens and change occurs. When the character returns ‘home,’ they have been altered by revelations, relationships, loss, and any other meaningful experience we choose to throw into their path.

Agency  

In the intersection of plot and character development, we can explore agency. Agency, in this context, is defined as the capacity of the character to act independently and make their own free choices. Rather than reacting, our character is acting.

Let’s use Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games as an example. When we meet Katniss, she volunteers to take her sister’s place as Tribute for the games. While this could be considered ‘acting’ in a way, I’d argue that based on her relationship with her sister, her personality, and all her life experience to this point, Katniss really couldn’t have reacted any other way.

However, by the end of the first book, after all the drama and trauma she’s faced, Katniss stands up to the game-makers and refuses to play. When she and Peeta decide they would rather both die than kill each other, there is real agency in the moment, and it’s a very powerful moment because of this.

The Cost is Real

Science fiction and fantasy writers tend to deal with grand adventures, epic battles, and not-so-subtle heroes and villains. We write big! Sometimes, this can be at the expense of character development. In order to bring more depth to this part of our narrative, an area we can focus on is showing the fallout of trauma on our characters.

If we’ve subjected them to loss, torture, or war, there should be an appropriate emotional impact. We may want our characters to be larger than life, but if we don’t at least acknowledge their pain and suffering, we’ve missed an opportunity to give them depth. If we rush them through a recovery after a devastating injury, or don’t give them any baggage after years of war, we are presenting a one-dimensional view of them. The hero, displaying only heroic qualities, is boring. It’s the struggle that our readers are after.

Plot and character development are inextricably linked in our storytelling. We can create a well-formed character, with a compelling backstory and personality, and use plot action to push their continued growth and evolution. 

The weekend was long but wonderful. If you stopped by my table to buy a book or simply to say hello, thank you. It really means a lot to me. As Ray and I wind down our time in RI and look toward our next great adventure, I’m so grateful to have met all of you and for the great memories!

IN OTHER NEWS:

Save the date! - The RI Author Expo is coming soon! On Saturday, December 3rd, meet your favorite local authors at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick. Signed books make great holiday gifts! More info coming soon…

Monday Musings 5-11-20

This weekend I’ll be participating in the Writer’s Digest Annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Virtual Conference. My topic is on character development. Usually, before I pull together the PowerPoint presentation or develop a panel topic, I write several articles and take a deep dive into the research. This topic is particularly fun and interesting for me because I’m almost always looking at the world through a writer’s lens. I find myself thinking that everyone has a story. Their unique story informs their character development, and in turn their quality of character helps write their story.

It’s interesting to think about the nature vs. nurture debate when considering personality and character. What innate traits drive us toward our chosen careers? How deeply do childhood experiences impact our day to day decisions? But one of the most revealing questions I ask when developing my cast of characters is - what do they fear? The answer to that question is revealing. Perhaps a childhood fear, like never having enough to eat, informs a person’s drive to become an aid worker, or perhaps instead it drives them to steal. Perhaps an experience of being bullied in school influences the choice to become a teacher, or perhaps it causes them to lash out violently.

As I explore this idea for my presentation, I am watching it play out in the world. Fear is everywhere, and understandably so. Our fears run the gamut from worry that we can’t pay the bills to panic that someone we love will get sick and die. This fear can push us to say or do things we wouldn’t ordinarily, for good or for bad. Some of us lash out when we’re afraid. Some become paralyzed. But many accept that fear is part of the human experience, push onward, and try to do their very best to take care of themselves and each other.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
— Nelson Mandela

Monday Musings 4-27-20

I’ve used this space several times to talk about vulnerability. When I first started writing, and had to let other people read my stories, I was nervous. What if I really had no talent at all? Was I kidding myself? Did I have the resilience and mental fortitude to manage the criticism and constant rejection that comes with the deal? Would I run out of ideas?

Six years later, my science fiction series has won numerous awards, I manage a writer’s blog for a publishing house, I’m invited to speak on panels, podcasts, and webinars, I’m in the midst of publishing another series under a pen name, and I’m drafting my seventh novel. Progress. Validation. Proof that maybe I have the chops for this. And yet… that vulnerable feeling is never far away.

During this world crisis, many of us feel as vulnerable as we ever have in our lives. We might get sick. Someone we love might get sick. We might not have a job to go back to. There are so many things happening over which we have very little control - and they’re scary things. In order to weather this storm, we have to dig deep. We have to find a way to swim in the discomfort without drowning in it.

I’ve had to forge a new relationship with my feelings of vulnerability over the last several years. I recognize now that vulnerability is not weakness. I may feel exposed, but I do what I have to do anyway. I may feel afraid, but I put one foot in front of the other and move forward. I may have a day when I’m so mentally and physically exhausted that I throw in the towel, but the next day I try again. I’ve come to recognize that vulnerability and courage are two sides of the same coin.

“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.” - Brene Brown

We don’t have to pretend to feel good when we don’t. It’s okay to be afraid. It’s okay to feel vulnerable. We just have to keep showing up.

In other news, Writer’s Digest is hosting its annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Virtual Conference May 15-17. I’ll be doing a one-hour presentation on character development. If you are an aspiring writing, this conference offers a lot of bang for the buck, and you can participate from the comfort of your home in your Star Wars pajamas if you’d like!