The post 248 Planning and Writing Series with Inessa Sage appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• Story hypothesis and how it connects to theme
• Max-Neef’s nine needs
• Developing the journey of a character through theme
• Raising stakes and conflict
• Key scenes to embed theme in your story

Prose in the Market Webinar Information:

I am running three session times to try and accommodate as many timezones as I can (more on this below).

“Writing to market” isn’t new. But when teachers talk about it they focus on understanding the market, advertising, brand and pitch. But what about the writing and craft of writing to market? If you’re tired of trying to work out how to deliver what readers want, then this is the workshop for you.

In this session, I’ll explain:

• How to deconstruct bestselling books and implement the tools you find
• An easy three step methodology for deconstruction
• Practical examples of deconstruction and implementation in your own work
• Why you’re not using copywriting enough
• How to intentionally slip TikTok-able/Marketable scenes into your novels that will hook readers
• The craft of tropes
• Live deconstruction using examples from those in the session.

You’ll also receive a workbook containing exercises for you to implement all the things you learn during the session.

Session Times and Dates

• Friday 9th Feb 2024 at 7pm BST (11am PST, 2pm EST, and 8am Sat 9th Auckland (DST NZDT) https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/770172856747?aff=oddtdtcreator 
• Saturday 10th Feb 4pm BST (8am PST, 11am EST, 5am Sunday11th (DST NZDT) https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/770175976077?aff=oddtdtcreator 
• Saturday 10th Feb 8pm BST (12pm PST, 3pm EST, 9am Sunday 11th (DST NZDT) https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/770177631027?aff=oddtdtcreator

FAQ

Will this session be recorded? Will the recording be available for sale?

The session will be recorded. The recording will only be available to ticket-holders. I will not sell the recording. I am only doing these as live sessions. When I teach, I love to see everyone’s reactions and get audience participation. But depending on demand, I may run more of them in the future.

Find out more about JP:

Story Hypothesis

Linktree

Rebel of the Week is: Eden

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com

1 new patron this week, welcome and thank you to Dana Russo, and thank you to Renee and Claire Donnelly for upping their pledges. A big thank you to all of my existing patrons as well. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

The post 222 Story Hypothesis with JP Rindfleisch IX appeared first on Sacha Black.

The post 207 Using Settings in Romance with Emma Roze appeared first on Sacha Black.

In this episode we cover: 

• Mistakes to avoid in your description
• What good description is and looks like
• How to avoid information dumping
• How maximise settings
• How to let a character’s personality impact description

This week’s question is: Since you started writing, what’s the best money you’ve spent?

Recommendation of the week is: Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes

Apple

Kobo

Amazon UK 

Amazon USA

***this show uses affiliate links

Links and events I mentioned: 

Black Friday deal *coming soon*

StoryBundle

Find out more about Janice on:

Website

Twitter

Amazon

Rebel of the Week is: Anonymous

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or instagram me @sachablackauthor

1 new patron this week, thank you and welcome to Hunter Keris and thank you to JP Rindfleisch IX for upping their pledge. A whopping big thank you to my existing patrons as well. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

The post 112 How to Fix Settings and Descriptions with Janice Hardy appeared first on Sacha Black.

There are some books that are bound to cause controversy. 50 Shades of Grey is one of those books, so it makes sense that I don’t know many people who actually admit to liking it. But I don’t get it. There have been at least a hundred million copies sold worldwide, which puts it in the realm of the top ten selling books of all time. And that 100m figure was the from two years ago, with film releases it’s only going to boost book sales.

So somebody has to be buying it and reading it.

Most people I talk to are vehemently against the book.  The trilogy seems to ignite more ferocious battles than all the recent political Brouhahas. Most argue their dislike is because it’s written badly, or the subtly abusive connotations around how the male love interest treats the female protagonist.

If you didn’t know, 50 shades of Grey is actually fan fiction of the Twilight saga written by Stephanie Meyer which also sold in excess of a hundred million copies despite being yet another series of books that received significant critical attention.

But here’s my point, and the driver behind this post, if these bitches can sell nearly 300 million copies despite nearly everyone I know wanting to shove their books in a woodchipper, then there has to be something they’re doing right, and I wanna know what it is.

I don’t care if you’re Shakespeare himself risen from the dead to craft word-gold to hit the NYT best seller list, you don’t sell 300 million copies without giving your audience exactly what they want. And that, my dear sweet cherry pies, is the point of being a writer. I don’t know about you folks, but I sure as shit wouldn’t mind selling 300 million copies of my book.

So here’s me, suggesting to you, we all put our disjointed noses and misplaced egos aside for a moment and deconstruct what in the shizzle they did to make themselves so successful.

I’ll admit, I’ve only read the Twilight series not the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, but I have seen the films, and I 50 Shades Darker just last week.

Other than exceptional timing, having the glorious blessings of the karmic book Gods on her side, and a bucket load of luck, there are three things that I think EL James did to skyrocket her to the top of the charts.

 ONE – THE CONCEPT

I read an interesting book recently by Steven Pressfield, called Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit – why that is and what you can do about it.

In it, he talks about why the most important thing you can do when trying to sell your book is nail down the concept.

“A concept establishes a frame of reference that is greater than the product itself.”

“The concept frames (or, more frequently, re-frames) the issue entirely.”

“One of the seminal concepts in advertising history is Avis Rent a Car’s “We’re #2 so we try harder.”  All three quotes  by, Steven Pressfield,  Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit, P 18.

Avis has re-framed the concept of being second best. Being second best is usually negative, I mean, nobody remembers who won silver at the Olympics, right? You’re too busy remembering the gold winners.

And before you start, I know it’s the taking part that counts. I just happen to like shiny gold things with the number 1 against them or the letter A+…. :p

But… And this is where the genius comes in for Avis’s advertising; they flip being second best (a negative) into a positive by saying that they will try harder in order to be number one.

Damn,  they some goooooood advertising apples. Anyone else’s mind blown?

There are concepts everywhere:

• Nike’s Just Do It
• Breakfast of Champions – Wheaties,
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• De Beers ‘A Diamond is Forever’.

But it isn’t just advertising. Books and stories have concepts too.

Pressfield talks about the film Die Hard and the fact that it’s high concept, because

a) You can convey the story in 10 seconds flat,

b) When you do, you understand the entire film and plot.

DIE HARD – Maverick cop ends up in building which has been taken over by a gang of thieves trying to steal a fortune.

and here are some more examples:

Cop trapped on a bus with a ticking bomb – Speed

The whole world is a computer simulation –  The Matrix

Alien race camoflagues as humans to take over the world – V (TV series)

So what about 50 Shades of Grey

The unlikely girl manages to win elusive control freak bachelor’s, heart.

In other words:

Unlikely girl, meets unlikely boy.

OR, and here’s the winner…

Submissive woman overcomes everything to dominate the heart of elusive bachelor.

Why? Because there are a lot of pissed off, bored housewives out there that feel suppressed.

TWO – THE CHARACTER ARC

And I know someone’s going to say you can’t have a decent character arc unless you write well, but 100 million copies say you’re wrong. So get back in your fucking box and pipe down.

People read books for characters. We can do as much world building and scene setting as we like but it’s the characters that drive every story and if your readers don’t buy into them because you don’t have a good enough arc, then your story ain’t gonna sell.

A character arc denotes the change or growth the character goes through during the story. The character starts in one place at the beginning and by the end, they’ve grown into something else.

Readers’ want to know if the protagonist is going to make a better decision this time.

• Will they save the world?
• Can they trust in someone enough to accept their help?
• Will they stop cheating on their wife?
• Can they make the ultimate sacrifice to win the girl’s heart?

What works so crazily well in 50 Shades, is that Christian and Ana’s character arcs are high concept. Let me show you:

Christian- The ultimate elusive bachelor, never fallen in love, complete control freak.

End of the book?  Christians – Married, a father and a doting husband. It’s the ultimate 180 degree u-haul change.  Bad boy turns good.

Ana is the same:

Ana – meek, mousy woman, suppressed at work, submissive in the bedroom.

End of the book? Confident and dominant enough to stand up to Christians arrogance, so much so she is the catalyst for his change.

Deep down, we all want to be loved. Sure this might not go for every woman on the planet, but most women I know go weak at the knees at the thought that somebody could love them enough to sacrifice everything for them. And that right there, is what makes the story so appealing.

The fact that it’s erotica is completely beside the point. When you break this down scientifically, the erotica is nothing more than scenery and world building. This sold because it’s the ultimate love story.

THREE – VULNERABILITY 

If you want your readers to love a character who is elusive, arrogant, and a control freak (all negative qualities) then the quickest (although not the only) way to do that, is to make that character vulnerable.

Why does that work? Because you immediately endear that character to the protagonist, and the protagonist isn’t really the protagonist, are they?

The protagonist is the reader.

If someone makes themselves vulnerable to you, it makes you want to look after them and care for them and make sure that nobody damages them.

That’s exactly what EL James does with Christian Grey. Slowly but surely Grey opens up about his past, he lets Ana touch him for the first time (something that was out of bounds previously) and piece by piece, gives a little more to Ana, which really means, piece by piece he gives us a little more.

And that is addiction 101. You’re hard-wired to want what you can’t have. So if EL James gives you tiny pieces chapter by chapter, you’re going to guzzle those pieces up and keep turning till you get what you want. Forget the fact the writing isn’t Shakespearian, frankly, I think she’s a fucking genius.

Want to read these puppies? Buy from AmazonCOM, AmazonUK

LET’S PLAY A GAME – In the comments, (aside from anything you want to say) add another comment… I want you to write down the ‘concept’ of a super famous book or film. DON’T tell us the name of the book or film until we guess it. Everyone’s welcome to join in.

Sign up for publishing news, writing comps and writing tips galore here.

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post 50 Shades of Mistakes That Sell Books #MondayBlogs appeared first on Sacha Black.

Without it, your book flatlines harder than the grim reaper. No self-respecting book doctor will even attempt to resuscitate it. And yet, you need to, because conflict is the god of novels.

If you’ve been a good little girl, then conflict will dip its mighty hand into Santa’s sack and bestow heavenly book treasures on you, like pace, tension, plot line and well-rounded characters with enough depth to drown a reindeer. But without it, we’re talking dead Kipper slaps to the face.

And nobody wants a stinky dead fish face mask.

But when you love your precious little bundle of baby hero joy more than life itself, torturing them with a bout of – villain/antagonist/insert another form of conflict shaped nappy rash can be rather more difficult than one expects.

Here are ten tips for shaping your books conflict.

THING ONE – From Conflict Comes Everything

Conflict is the source of everything. It’s the book equivalent of the big bang.

Lots of people debate what the most important aspect of a novel is: plot or characters. To me, that’s like asking chicken or eggs? I hate both chicken and eggs, so let’s sweep them under the give-a-shit rug and discuss what IS the most important part of your novel:

Conflict.

Two examples:

two 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – The main conflict comes from a prophecy made by professor Trelawney: a boy born at the end of July will defeat the dark Lord Voldemort. There’s your conflict, a prophecy of defeat. This spawns the need for a boy character in which the evil wizard can make an orphan and fuck himself up in the process. The first book is based on his return from death to finish the job he started. And there is the entire plot and characters.

Conflict 2: Romeo and Juliet – Two families are at war, love between the families is forbidden. This creates the characters (Romeo from one family and Juliet from the other) and the plot: Romeo and Juliet falling in love with each other without knowing who they really are.

THING TWO – The Source of Conflict

While there will be many a’ thing that causes your protagonist angst, like missing the postman, being patronized, inconveniently timed bouts of diarrhea and finding rat dumps in your tuna sandwich, the main source should be your antagonist or villain.

Your antagonist should be directly causing the conflict. By that I mean, any pain your protagonist endures as a result of your stories main conflict can’t be a coincidence, nor a consequence of another character’s tactical wrong doings. The knife hanging out of Aunt Gertrude’s carotid needs to have been put there by the spindly claw hands of your villain. Unless your villains a coward and Aunty G’s murdered by someone else but it has to of been orchestrated by them.

THING THREE – Specificity Rules

When it comes to conflict, you can’t be broad. Half measures won’t work. That’s like going into a bar on a Friday night and ordering half a shot of tequila. No one does that unless they’re cheap, or a pussy. You’re just short-changing yourself a Saturday morning hangover, and everyone loves a book hangover.

The conflict has to be specific so that the hero and villain both invest in fighting each other. No one’s going to get out of bed to save the world if a wild-eyed science genius might release the plague, but you’re not sure because your cousin’s mate’s sister-in-law said it might only effect ostriches.

Be specific and link the conflict to your hero/villain’s goals.

THING FOUR – Target Like A Bullet

If you want to properly motivate your protagonist to knuckle dust your antagonist then you need to make sure your conflict is targeted.

It’s no good threatening to kill your protagonists friend’s snake, cause while it would be real sad an’ all, who gives a shit. Now, if you threatened to kill your protagonist’s pet snake, who happened to save his life as a teenager by role playing an Amazon tree rope so he could swing from a burning building with his baby brother in hand and as a result, they never left each others side… well now you got his attention.

But the same can be said for the villain. He has to have a realistic and targeted reason to want to kill your protag’s snake. Say, the snake having the only cure to the ostrich snuffing plague he wants to release on the world.

THING FIVE – Fuck Romeo, Break The Bitches Heart 

Here’s where you get your psycho out, don your best conductors dicky bow and wave your big writerly baton around…

Whatever you create as conflict, it has to really mean something. It has to be intricately linked to your protagonist and antagonists values, what is it that means the most to them? What’s their worst fear and what or who would they die for? That’s what they should be battling over.

Take me, don’t hurt my family or friends, and were good. I wouldn’t touch my laptop or coffee either because then I’d have to cut you.

If your characters are emotionally invested in the battle, then your readers will be too.

THING SIX AND SEVEN – With Realism Comes Believability

Bearing your genre, and story in mind, you still need your conflict to be realistic. Sure, a writer can make anything sound plausible, but honestly, if your hero is Superman, I wouldn’t pit a two-year-old baby girl against him, I’m not sure she could conjure the kind of conflict you’re looking for. Without realism, which comes from all hitting all the other steps, your conflict won’t be believable.

THING EIGHT – Time Is Always Of The Essence

Adding time pressure in any novel builds tension and pace. Telling your hero your gonna kill his mumsy dearest is one thing. Telling him, he’s got 12 hours to free the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles from his turtle breeding farm will motivate him to listen far more quickly.

THING NINE – If This Were Poker, I’d Be All In

Raise the stakes. Raise the stakes. Raise the stakes. No one cares if you steal $20. Steal $200,000,000 and someone might notice. Threaten to blow up a building? Meh. Try fucking up a whole city and see if anyone cares and if they don’t blow up an entire state.

THING TEN – Dominatrix Time

Torture your protagonist. Not the physical fork in the eye kind of torture, but the emotional, heart wrenching, life changing kind of torture. Conflict is a gift from Lucifer himself for your protagonist, if they want to win, they have to suffer and lose something to beat your antagonist.

How do you make sure you get the conflict right in your novels? Let me know in the comments below.

If you liked this post, why not get even more awesome tips in the book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains

OUT NOW

Click this link and just click the logo of your device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page.

You can also get a FREE villains cheatsheet and a villain’s short course by joining my mailing list just click here.

Amazon Book Blurb:

Your hero is not the most important character in your book. Your villain is.
 
Are you fed up of drowning in two-dimensional villains? Frustrated with creating clichés? And failing to get your reader to root for your villain?
  
In 13 Steps to Evil, you’ll discover: 
 
+ How to develop a villain’s mindset
+ A step-by-step guide to creating your villain from the ground up
+ Why getting to the core of a villain’s personality is essential to make them credible
+ What pitfalls and clichés to avoid as well as the tropes your story needs
  
Finally, there is a comprehensive writing guide to help you create superbad villains. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned writer, this book will help power up your bad guy and give them that extra edge.

These lessons will help you master and control your villainous minions, navigate and gain the perfect balance of good and evil, as well as strengthening your villain to give your story the tension and punch it needs.
 
If you like dark humor, learning through examples and want to create the best villains you can, then you’ll love Sacha Black’s guide to crafting superbad villains. Read 13 Steps to Evil today and start creating kick-ass villains.

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post 10 Things Every Writers Needs To Know About Conflict appeared first on Sacha Black.

Because it’s my genre I took the opportunity to research. I never read a book without taking a lesson from it.

This time I learnt all about the character arc and one awesome method for achieving the perfect curve! The book I read: Frostbite by Richelle Mead (part of the Vampire Academy series), used an awesome technique in which to perfect that arc – Lies. 

Frostbite is actually the second book in the Vampire Academy series, the first of which you can find in here (waffly Amazon blurb whatsit about the book is at the end of the post). There’s also a film if you want some full-fat mozzarella covered teeny-bopper film action. Honestly, it was shit, but I fucking loved it! Moving on…

What is a character arc?

Wikipedia says:

“A character arc is the transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story. If a story has a character arc, the character begins as one sort of person, and during the story, things happen which gradually transforms him or her into a different sort of person.”

ONE – You Need a Lie

Although there are countless ways to push your character through its arc, one things fer-shizzle, you do actually need a character arc. And sure, some smart arse is going to quote the three literary fiction books where this isn’t the case. But frankly, they need to back the F away from literary fiction cause were talking about mainstream shit here.

An arc gives you pace, conflict, and plot. More important than all of that, is the fact that an arc gives your character depth. It’s what will drive your readers to root for your characters because they watch them grow and change; readers become part of your characters change.

One guaranteed method for giving you an arc, is a lie a character believes and has to ‘realise’ the truth about during the book.

TWO – What is Your Characters Lie?

For YA writers especially that lie is usually something they believe about themselves or about the world. Often it’s something naive or narrow minded, like: the world owes me something or, the world revolves around me, I want such and such therefore I should get it.

But it doesn’t have to be a lie about themselves. For other writers that lie could be anything, for example a lie about another character.

Let’s take a romance novel example. You know the one, where the main character hates the male lead because she believes a lie about him. As long as you’ve drunk your morning coffee, the lie doesn’t have to be literal either.

I’m not talking this kind of lie: Mark said to Frank, the guy I like, that I had genital warts, therefore Mark’s a prick and I hate him.

I’m talking the kind of lie that means she thinks Mark’s a douche bag. Maybe she always thought it. Or perhaps she thinks it because she heard about the crappy break up he ha with a friend of a friend, or perhaps its just an assumption she made.

THREE – Connect The Lie to Your Theme

The lie Katniss (in the Hunger Games) believes, is that: she has to kill all the other tributes in order to survive. But that’s the last thing she wants to do.

She believes that lie right up to the end, when she realises there is another way – if they both kill themselves, they beat the system. And here in lies the orgasm-inducing beauty connecting the lie to the book’s theme, which is: Sacrifice.

You see it even at the beginning of the story, Katniss believes if you’re picked at a tribute you have to go, when her sister is picked, she realises there is another way, if she sacrifices herself by taking her sisters place, she can beat the system. DAMN that’s some awesome foreshadowing.

FOUR – Lies = Conflict

In Frostbite, Rose, the seventeen year old main character, believes that because she loves Dimitri, they should be together, no matter what. 

“I wasn’t the only one who had trouble ignoring the romantic tension between us.” Rose Hathaway, p.13 of Frostbite by Richelle Mead.

But of course it isn’t that simple. He’s her teacher for one, and although only twenty-three himself, still several years older than her. He then gets faced with an opportunity that will make his career fly – if only he moved away from Rose for good.

This one little lie, drives conflict throughout the book. It causes emotional reactions, they fall out, but secretly both still care.

The lie your character believes should be driving their behaviour, i.e. the emotional reaction Rose has when she finds out about the job opportunity Dimitri’s been given. She over reacts and is a bitchy little teen-brat. Which drives the stories tension and ratchets up the conflict, especially between the two of them.

FIVE – Time the lie

If your character believes a lie that they then get over later in the book. Then the lie needs to be made clear very early in the story. Like just woke up, haven’t even had a morning wee, early. Rose’s lie is made clear in the first chapter.

If your lie is connected to your theme, it becomes part of your hook or books promise to the reader. Take the Hunger Games, the first chapter is all about Katniss sacrificing herself for the lie she believes.

But the resolution of that lie, doesn’t come until later. I made an assumption that the lie, would resolve itself during the climax of the story, i.e. right at the bloody end. But I was wrong. (I know. I was shocked too. I hate being wrong. Just ask the Bloggers Bash committee:Geoffle, Ali and Hugh.

In most cases the lie needs to be resolve about 75% of the way through the story, or at least, before the climax of the story. In the case of the Hunger Games, realising the truth is the puzzle piece she needs in order to beat the system. 

For Rose,  she believed that her and Dimitri should be together no matter what. She finally realises that if she really loves Dimitri she has to let him go:

“You can’t force love, I realized. It’s there or it isn’t. If it’s not there, you’ve got to be able to admit it. If it is  there, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love. The next words that came out of my mouth astonished me, both because they were completely unselfish and because I actually meant them. “You should take it.” He flinched. “What?” “Tasha’s offer. You should take her up on it. It’s a really great chance.”” p.235, Frostbite by Richelle Mead

This excerpt is on page 235 of 328 pages, exactly 71.5% through the book.

What do you think? Does your character believe a lie? What tricks do you use to drive your character through its arc. Let me know in the comments below.

 Want more writing tips like this? Sign up for FREE tips straight to your inbox here.

Amazon has this to say about Frostbite:

FROSTBITE is the second book in the international Number 1 bestselling Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead 

Higher Learning. Higher Stakes.

WINTER BREAK TURNS DEADLY.
A massive vampire attack has put St. Vladimir’s Academy on high alert. With the deadly creatures closing in, this year’s trip to the wintery peaks of Idaho has just become mandatory.

But Rose Hathaway can’t escape her (guy) troubles. Her relationship with gorgeous tutor Dimitri can never be and her closest friend has just confessed to his huge crush on her . . .

The glittering winter landscape may seem like the perfect hideaway – but Rose, and her heart, are in more danger than she ever imagined.

The post Lies – 5 Tips to Master The Perfect Character Arc appeared first on Sacha Black.

“I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion.” Yohji Yamamoto

There are a million juxtapositions I could have used as examples, even ones as simple as: light and dark. But the point is over the last few books I have read, I have discovered what an extraordinary tool they are and, one that should be in every writers’ bag of tricks.

Here’s why, and how to use them more effectively.

Juxtapositions, what are they? google says: The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

Right. What does that even mean? And What does is mean for deepening my writing?

Juxtapositions are symbolic. They create metaphors and similes, draw the reader in through vivid imagery and bring depth to your writing… especially emotional depth (I’ll talk about this later).

More than anything though, juxtapositions give you conflict and resolution: goals and obstacles, heroes and villains. That’s a lot of stuff for one tiny literary device to do. But how do you actually create and use them effectively?

***

Juxtapositions can be used on a macro or micro level.

Macro

On the macro scale, usually, the protagonist starts the book in the opposite position to where they end. Or there are contrasting themes posed subtly throughout the novel.

When you decide your heroes goal, you normally juxtapose what they want, with what they have to do to get it, creating the conflict that drives the plot.

Micro

On the micro scale, you can use juxtapositions, in chapters, scenes or even short conversations, for example, using the weather to contrast against emotion or theme etc.

As always, I’ve used examples from the last few books I have read to explore what this looks like in practice.

Emotion

Emotion runs through most juxtapositions but, in particular the first three examples I’ve listed below. By positioning two different concepts next to each other and then contrasting them you create a Yin Yang image. Everyone knows the benefit of metaphors and similes, but the impact of them when you use two different images is always significantly greater.

“I’m afraid of upsetting the stillness.” Sarah Crossan, Breathe.

You can read the 5 lessons I learnt about the first person POV from reading that book by clicking the link.

What does that quote show us? The juxta is in posing stillness against upsetting. It’s perhaps not the best quote, but it still gives an image of perfect peace being ruptured. Because she’s afraid to do it, it gives more weight to that fear emotion.

If she had said, I’m afraid of moving, it doesn’t have the same emotional impact, in fact, its a rather flat sentence. Adding two contrasting concepts makes the fear deeper, more authentic and it also creates imagery.

Plot Development

As I said before, you can use Juxtas to develop plot on a micro or macro level.

“Every once in a while I catch Tomas staring at me as though longing to say something. But he doesn’t and neither do I.” The Testing, Joelle Charbonneau

This is a great an example of a micro juxta. The juxta is in posing the want to speak, against not doing it. This works on so many levels. Firstly, because of its huge emotional impact. Second, it develops characters individually because she shows that they want something but choose not to act on it but also together as it builds on their relationship which leads to…Third, it throws a spanner in the works.

This carefully crafted juxta, is one of the first lynch pins in creating conflict between those two characters. They are young and in love. But, this phrase shows the start of secrets being hidden and we all know conflict is at the heart of any story.

Character Description

“The point is valid, but his light tone is contradicted by the tightness of his jaw and the hands clenching and unclenching at his side.” The Testing, Joelle Charbonneau

Ok this example is less subtle, she uses the phrase contradicting, which makes the juxta obvious. Juxtas could be used as simply as contrasting light skin against dark clothing. Or, as in this example, the characters nature. It brings depth to his personality that he is capable of ‘faking it’ but he has a tell. Also it tells us that she knows him, can read him. It describes his nature of wanting to rebel, but conforming anyway.

Environment & Setting

“Tattered clouds tore through the sky, occasionally obscuring their only source of light and plunging them temporarily into a deep black void.” Ali Isaac, The Four Treasures of Eirean (The Tir Na Nog Trilogy Book 1)

You can read the 4 mistakes to avoid when transcribing research into fiction that Isaac taught me here.

This is a beautiful example of how you can describe the setting and draw a richness to it using a juxtaposition. Here, their light source, is posed against a deep black void. In the context of the book, this gives characters a challenge to overcome. But, in terms of description, it gives a vividness to the setting that you wouldn’t get if she had said, the clouds plunged us into darkness.

***

There is one last example I can think of: foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is another mechanism you can use juxtapositions in. The recent post about the James Bond of foreshadowing, shows how they use a juxtaposition right at the start and throughout the movie to depict their storyline.

Over to you, what examples of juxtapositions can you think of? Have you got a favourite? Do you use them in your writing? Or do you use other methods to get depth in your stories? Let me know in the comments.

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I like examples, I like learning from examples and I just happen to have read another book (Independent Study (The Testing Trilogy Book 2)), so I am going to use the hero from that to explain how not to create the perfect hero.

Ultimately, a hero needs to save the day. But how they actually save the day is just as important if not more so than the fact they actually save it. And here in lies the problem when creating a hero.

The book I just finished: Independent Study (The Testing Trilogy Book 2, is the second book in the testing series. I have talked about the testing briefly before: 4 Tactics to Create Your Perfect Last Line. It is a trilogy, YA (I swear I’ll read something else soon!) and a dystopian novel. Set in a world destroyed by war and in order to help rejuvenate the society, students go through ‘the testing’ in order to get into university. The testing of course, is barbaric. But our hero succeeds and this book is set at the start of university.

Perfection For The Sake of Winning

If your hero is going to win, they need to be good. They need to be smart, or at least have street smarts. Unless your hero is a total loner they also need a team or support of some kind around them so that ultimately, they can beat your villain.

How good is good enough but, more importantly, how good is too good?

If you make your hero good at everything, then there’s no battle, no need for the struggle against evil and no grit to the conflict. They no longer have anything to overcome.

In Indepdent Study, Cia is frighteningly intelligent. So much so, that she never actually makes a mistake. Not once throughout the entire book. I waited and waited for the moment where she would show some humanity and capability for error. But she didn’t. She worked out all the answers to problems, faster than anyone else, with virtually no outside input. She read her team mates, predicted their betrayals and knew how to beat them.

An example… when she is working on an assignment from the president:

“If anyone questions Raffe’s assistance, I can say I was only doing the same. But then I realise I don’t need to.” Independent Testing, Joelle Charbonneau.

This realisation leads to her understanding that the work she is being given is just another test.

I actually did a search in the book, and counted 19 uses of the phrase: ‘I realise’. NINETEEN?? the books only 368 pages, that one use every 19 pages. Who the hell edited this thing?

Now don’t get me wrong. There are barriers for Cia to overcome, but most of them are physical or external barriers – i.e. The testing ground and hostile environment.

Physical and external barriers are good, but only as additions. The heroes flaw should be the hardest thing for them to overcome, all the additions, the nasty villains, the hostile environments, these things should just make it harder for the hero to overcome his flaw. They need to make it seem impossible for them to succeed.

These external barriers shouldn’t ‘be’ the thing your hero has to beat. No one cares if they have to jump a ravine to chase the villain down. Readers care about personal torment and self sacrifice.

External barriers as a cover for perfect heroes just ain’t good enough. The heroes flaw has to be internal.

Cowardly For The Sake of Fallibility

We spend much of the book, and in fact, much of the first two books, with Cia as the hero; a strong female who’s driven, determined intelligent and utterly fearless.

Then, (and I made a note of this) at 84% of the way through the book, she has a change of heart… Yes, you can raise an eyebrow. I did. 84% of the way through a book is not the time for a 180 degree change of heart. Let me explain, she realises she has to do something, a task, (that actually she doesn’t even end up doing) that would put her life in danger.

“I cannot deliberately make a choice that could end my life. I am not a leader. I am a coward.” Independent Testing Joelle Charbonneau

Up to this point she has thrown herself in the way of danger without a second breath. But at 84% she decides she’s a coward and basically hides in her room for a day. Precisely 1% later, at 85% she changes her mind again:

“And I realise – the walls are constructed of my terror. To escape, I will have to not only face, but defeat, my fear… The safety is just an illusion. no matter how careful I am or how good my grades are, I will never be free of the threat Dr Barnes and his system present.” Independent Testing Joelle Charbonneau

*foreheadslap* (another realisation…)

I actually can’t believe a 1% kong change of heart got through the edits to be honest. It was so jarring, I actually had to re read sections to check she was being serious.

Character flaws are good. Yes. Essential even. BUT…

If you want a flaw in your character to be believable and authentic, you need to show that flaw the ENTIRE way through the book or at least allude to it. That is the purpose of flaws. To show the protagonist growing, developing and overcoming that flaw as the book progresses. NOT to slap one in towards the end, because either you forgot or couldn’t be arsed to weave it in earlier. That’s just poor authorship and makes the character seem trite as well as unbelievable.

***

Unfortunately, the book has been widely criticised for being too similar to the Hunger Games and whilst I can see the links and, given it was published five years after HG’s, was probably influenced by it. However, it is a different story, based in a different setting and with different characters, so I think people who liked the Hunger Games, generally speaking would like this book too.

Whilst I have picked out two distinct lessons on what not to do with a hero, I did actually like this book. It was a little slow for my taste, and as a result I didn’t feel it advanced the plot much on the first book. But perhaps that was because the first book was so pacey. I suspect, like many trilogies, this second book was just a filler.

I would genuinely recommend this series to any YA dystopian fan, I will certainly be reading the final book, despite this middle one. The characters are full of depth, and Cia has a clear and wonderful voice full of angst and emotion. Exactly what you’d want and expect from a YA book.

Independent Study is the second in the Testing Trilogy, Amazon says this about it:

Cia Vale is now seventeen and has everything she ever dreamed of: a boy she loves, a place at the University and a future as one of the leaders of the UnitedCommonwealth. The Testing should be nothing more than a blank space in her mind; an achievement to be celebrated, and then forgotten. 
But Cia remembers. As further evidence of the government’s murderous programmes comes to light, Cia must choose whether to stay silent and protect herself and her loved ones, or expose The Testing for what it is. Above all, the University is a dangerous place, and Cia must remember the advice her father gave her: TRUST NO ONE.

If you are interested in the first book check it out here.

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The post Want The Perfect Hero? Don't Make These 2 Mistakes appeared first on Sacha Black.

Whatever the reason, when I asked you to list villains in the Who’s Your Ultimate Villain post, you gave me a list… but it had barely any women in it. The list included (but wasn’t limited to):

Cruella De Ville, Ursula, Professor Umbridge, Annie Wilkes, Nurse Ratched, Miranda Priestly and Alex Forest

Rather a small list if you ask me.

What gives me hope is that the AFI (American Film Institute) has their own list: 100 years… 100 Heroes and Villains. This breaks down into a list of the top 50 pairings, rather than a list of 100 heroes and 100 villains.

In 4th place is the Wicked Witch of the West and in 5^th is Nurse Ratched. So, 2 of the top 5 are actually female. Promising… but of the list of 50 pairings, only 13 in total had female villains, and only a quarter of the best villains were female. Better than I expected, but not as good as it should be.

Why?

Awesome Female Villains: Mental Health

I wrote a previous post about the 6 Most Sinister Villain Personalities in which I discussed mental health and its relation to villains. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is frequently used as a mechanism to develop character in female villains. I think this is because it is widely seen as the more common female equivalent of psycho/sociopathy.

Examples of villains with BPD include: Eileen Wurnos from Monster, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, Winona Ryder in Girl Interrupted and Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.

Females can have psycho/sociopathy as it is not an illness constrained by gender but, it is less common in females. Perhaps this variance in gender distribution in BPD is why so many famous female villains have BPD instead of psycho/sociopathy. But isn’t this becoming a bit of a cliché? Shouldn’t we be developing a ‘different’, new and exciting kind of female villain rather than sticking to known stereotypes?

Briefly: BPD is marked by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships and typically more women than men have it. The four major areas affected are:

• emotional instability (the psychological term for this is affective dysregulation)
• disturbed patterns of thinking or perception (psychological terms for these are

cognitive or perceptual distortions)

• impulsive behaviours
• intense but unstable relationships with others

Crudely, I wonder if film makers and writers alike are entrenched in the societal concept that women are peaceful and caring, motherly, and to be ‘protected’ instead of writing stories with credible violent women?

What annoys me more, (and I’m trying not to get on my feminist soap box) is that they are all portrayed as insane, crazy, psycho bitches, often dressed in sexy clothes. It’s such a cliché, AND it’s boring.

So what can we do about it?

I refer back to my post discussing 6 Terror Tactics For Really Scary Villains. I focused on creating credible and believable villains. Personally, I don’t think you need to do anything different in creating a female villain to a male one. With one exception:

Awesome Female Villains: Create Credibility

The same core values that create good male villains also create good female villains. Not least of which is credibility. Female villains don’t have much of a reputation, they’re harder to market and less believable. It’s a sad fact, but it is true. But, credibility creates believability which means awesome female villains. So how do we create credibility?

1.Core values

Women as mothers (fathers too but I’m focusing on women) embody values. They teach and rear children and impart those values on their kids. Strong core values are therefore crucial to a credible female villain.

That doesn’t mean a juicy villain’s values aren’t messed up and insane. It means that whatever their values are, they need to stick to them like glue. If they do, then they will be consistent which builds character. It also means your female villain has a reason to fight—villains will defend their values to the death just as much as your hero will.

 2.Integrity 

Although integrity is about doing the right things for the right reasons, if your female villain has core values (even if they seem illogical) she fights for them anyway, so she has integrity.

A villain fighting with integrity and thinking what they are doing is right for the right reasons is terrifying. Especially if what they are doing is horrific like mass genocide or torture, and here goes an inbuilt stereotype but, doesn’t it seem worst if it’s a woman doing it?

Your female villain should be able to give reasoned logical explanations for why they are doing what they are doing. If it’s good enough, their reason and logic might occasionally even make you believe what they are doing is right too!

 3.Authenticity

Your villain needs to do exactly what they say they are going to do. Especially if that means torturing your main character or killing off a couple of major minor, or minor minor characters. Without following through on their convictions they become weak and flaky, another total cliché for a female villain, but worse—it makes them completely defeatable.

 4.Expertise 

Having an intelligent villain with expertise in a particular area means they know more than you do, especially more than your main character, and this makes them unbeatable.

It is possibly more essential that a female villain seem unbeatable in order to give them credibility. This is because you are starting from a lower baseline of audience perception and assumed reputation. 

5.Believability 

Can come from playing on fears. I always think some of the scariest things in life are those that are the closest to reality, the ones that could almost be true.

A mother who lost her child and then lost everything else…driven to insanity, to murder…to villainy. Torture your female villains with their history. Make it intricate and detailed enough that their motives are believable and credible.

What do you think makes a credible female villain? Let me know in the comments below.

***

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Amazon Book Blurb:

Your hero is not the most important character in your book. Your villain is.
 
Are you fed up of drowning in two-dimensional villains? Frustrated with creating clichés? And failing to get your reader to root for your villain?
  
In 13 Steps to Evil, you’ll discover: 
 
+ How to develop a villain’s mindset
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+ Why getting to the core of a villain’s personality is essential to make them credible
+ What pitfalls and clichés to avoid as well as the tropes your story needs
  
Finally, there is a comprehensive writing guide to help you create superbad villains. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned writer, this book will help power up your bad guy and give them that extra edge.

These lessons will help you master and control your villainous minions, navigate and gain the perfect balance of good and evil, as well as strengthening your villain to give your story the tension and punch it needs.
 
If you like dark humor, learning through examples and want to create the best villains you can, then you’ll love Sacha Black’s guide to crafting superbad villains. Read 13 Steps to Evil today and start creating kick-ass villains.

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Here’s a free infographic summarising the points above:

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