Internationally Bestselling Quirky Children's Books; Adventurous Heroes Doing Good
What’s the Strangest Thing You’ve Ever Seen?
Yep. We’re going there on this podcast.
Thanks for hanging out and check out our other podcast (not live, more helpful) Dogs are Smarter Than People for writing tips, life tips and random weirdness every Tuesday.
Resources:
Everyone tells you to raise the stakes in your writing.
And that’s a lovely, easy thing to say when you are the editor and not the writer. But what does it actually mean?
You hear this and think, “Yeah. Yeah. High stakes equal important. Cool. Cool.”
But then you start thinking about dinner or something.
But it’s important. Carrie’s first breakout novel was NEED and it was a series about pixies trying to cause an apocalypse. Those are high stakes, right?
Agent Donald Maas says it pretty well, “High stakes yield high success.”
He suggests knowing exactly where the stakes increase. What page does this happen? Can those stakes be higher? Do those stakes make it harder for your main character to get what he/she/they want to get?
A really, beautiful way he puts this stakes question out there is by asking authors to ask themselves, “So what?”
What’s the so what question?
It’s this: IF YOUR MAIN CHARACTER DOESN’T GET THEIR GOAL THEN SO WHAT? Does it matter? How much does it matter?
And that brings me to what I think of I think is Maas’s most important point about stakes:
The stakes in your story don’t matter unless you’ve built in human worth about your main character. If your character’s life doesn’t matter to the reader, than the stakes don’t matter, and this is even true for life-and-death stakes.
Maas
So, that brings us to the question of what is human worth and how do you make it happen in your story. That’s obviously a big cultural question, right? And this isn’t meant to be about philosophy, but about writing, and yes it’s all intertwined.
Who is she?
Why do we need to care about her?
What are the stakes that make it necessary for us to care that she gets her goal. There needs to be an extra burst of value in why us readers care about your character. Are they super moral? Are their morals and ethics at risk?
Honesty
Bravery
Kindness
Empathy
Love
Goodness
Truth
Honor
Friendship
So many books that are break-out books and movies are about friendships. Think about Harry Potter and Tolkein and Star Wars and even Marvel movies. There is a link that happens between the characters that show their worth through their caring for others. This isn’t just true for fantasy. But even in the specificity of contemporary realistic novels.
In realistic novels, we don’t necessarily deal with those blatant and beautiful archetypes that happen in science fiction and fantasy, but if there is anything that the Covid-19 pandemic teaches us is that there can be the heroic in the mundane. Hand washing and mask wearing can be an act of kindness and of power. But no matter how big our landscape needs to be then we have to make sure that our characters worth snags our reader into caring.
Some characters are unsympathetic and there is a tiny bit of redeemabilitiy in them. They have to somehow be likable. There’s got to be an element about them to latch onto. This varies in different cultures, but in ours currently, we can deal with a jerk of a character if they are funny or brave or super smart or charismatic. I mean, seriously, think about some popular celebrities that we latch onto. Charisma is a big deal thing and it lets you get a way with a lot.
Every reader has a slightly different threshold for the poopy behaviour they’ll put up with from a character.
Make your characters matter. Make them redeemable. Make them have human worth.
Choose the people who see your good, not just your bad.
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License.
Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free.
WE HAVE EXTRA CONTENT ALL ABOUT LIVING HAPPY OVER HERE! It’s pretty awesome.
We have a podcast, LOVING THE STRANGE, which we stream biweekly live on Carrie’s Facebook and Twitter and YouTube on Fridays. Her Facebook and Twitter handles are all carriejonesbooks or carriejonesbook. But she also has extra cool content focused on writing tips here.
Carrie is reading one of her raw poems every once in awhile on CARRIE DOES POEMS. And there you go! Whew! That’s a lot!
We all have a tiny bit of conspiracy theory in us? So what actually is a conspiracy theory? And what’s the one buzzing around in your head?
It might be about Tupac’s fate or the Flathead Lake Monster?
It might be about Bigfoot or Truman Capote and To Kill a Mockingbird or a flat Earth?
It might be about the moon landing, Snapple, or Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex?
Let’s talk about your favorite (and ours) and why.
https://www.truthcontrol.com/articles/top-100-conspiracy-theories-all-time
https://theweek.com/articles/466777/11-crazy-bigfoot-conspiracy-theories
https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/g35766929/crazy-conspiracy-theories/?slide=8
https://www.verywellmind.com/why-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories-4690335
In most stories (but not all) our protagonists grow and change and are dynamic dynamos.
Carrie’s teaching a class at the Writing Barn for the next six weeks about . . . character!
That means we’re talking a lot about character in our house.
Of course, we’re also being characters because being characters is more fun than talking about them. It’s like the difference between telling in your writing and showing.
And in the writing world one of the big annoying things writers hear about their characters is that the character is “too static, man.”
The opposite of a static character is a dynamic character. That’s a character that grows and evolves.
In most stories (but not all) our protagonists grow and change and are dynamic dynamos. They are characters we root for or follow, right? The evil miser who hates Christmas becomes a generous benefactor. A little boy wizard who hides under the stairs becomes a wizard leader in the fight against darkness.
But if you think about the James Patterson series’s protagonists, most of them are like Sherlock Holmes and they don’t really grow and change. They are pretty consistent a lot of times.
And then there is the bad guy/antagonist.
Some editors will want your bad guy to grow and be dynamic too, but a lot of times those baddies and a lot of your side/secondary characters will be pretty consistent and static. Think Hannibal Lecter. Think Gaston in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
To be foils to the main character.
To make fun of tropes and stereotypes or shallow people in society.
To get pulled along in the main character’s fun.
To sometimes have contradictory goals that create obstructions for that main dynamic character’s quest.
There is a place for dynamic and static characters in stories, but you know, you should know what the words mean.
Don’t be static, dude. Grow. Become.
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License.
Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free.
WE HAVE EXTRA CONTENT ALL ABOUT LIVING HAPPY OVER HERE! It’s pretty awesome.
We have a podcast, LOVING THE STRANGE, which we stream biweekly live on Carrie’s Facebook and Twitter and YouTube on Fridays. Her Facebook and Twitter handles are all carriejonesbooks or carriejonesbook. But she also has extra cool content focused on writing tips here.
Carrie is reading one of her raw poems every once in awhile on CARRIE DOES POEMS. And there you go! Whew! That’s a lot!
https://www.today.com/parents/toddler-brings-his-new-best-friend-skeleton-everywhere-t192612
This week’s podcast we are all about the best and worst of Halloween with special guest star Dee Harris!!
Best candy?
Best song?
Best costume?
Best scary movie?
Best drink?
Best food?
Best jokes?
And the worst. It’s all about the worst, too.
You’re writing a book. And that book has to start somewhere. Where it starts? That’s called the opening scene and this little baby has a lot of work that it has to do.
It’s like the first moments of a blind date, but instead of a blind date between two people, it’s a blind date between the book and the reader.
Will they like each other?
Will they want to spend time together?
Are they meant for each other?
Only … it’s really will the reader like the book. Nobody cares if the book likes the reader. The reader has all the power.
According to Les Edgerton, who wrote the craft book, HOOKED, that opener has ten important components to grab that reader’s attention and make them want to chill on the couch with your book.
The Inciting Incident – Les believes that this needs to happen in the first scene. Other people do not agree with this.
The Story-Worthy Problem – That incident makes a problem that is going to propel the plot of the whole damn book.
The Initial Shallow Problem – This problem happens because of the inciting incident and makes the protagonist do something (take action), but it’s not the real problem of the story.
The Set-Up – Kind of makes the reader know what’s going to happen next and also helps the reader know what the heck is going on.
Backstory – You do not want a lot of this, which is the events that have happened before the story starts.
Opening Lines – Because duh. The story has to start, but you want them to be snazzy and make an impression.
Language – Because again, duh. Books are made of words. The words you choose and how you group them together make an impression.
Setting – Because the story has to take place somewhere. Let the reader have a sense of the physical space, the time, the culture.
Foreshadowing – This is the magic, my friends, because this is part of the hook that keeps the reader with you—the knowledge and hint that something is coming up next.
That beginning of your story is super important. Spend some time on it.
Set the scene. Establish your goals. Show them your character and do it right away.
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License.
Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free.
WE HAVE EXTRA CONTENT ALL ABOUT LIVING HAPPY OVER HERE! It’s pretty awesome.
We have a podcast, LOVING THE STRANGE, which we stream biweekly live on Carrie’s Facebook and Twitter and YouTube on Fridays. Her Facebook and Twitter handles are all carriejonesbooks or carriejonesbook. But she also has extra cool content focused on writing tips here.
Carrie is reading one of her raw poems every once in awhile on CARRIE DOES POEMS. And there you go! Whew! That’s a lot!
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/why-couples-are-having-less-sex-during-pandemic-214715201.html
Hey! It’s our third in our October podcasts of LIVE Loving the Strange where we talk about spooky weirdness.
So thanks for hanging out as we talk about weird Halloween traditions and laws and food.
LINKS
https://www.thecoolist.com/strangest-halloween-traditions/
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/halloween-recipes
https://www.wicca.com/pagan-holidays/samhain.html
https://www.interproinc.com/blog/halloween-traditions-around-the-world
Just like hanging out with a friend, or listening to an instructor drone on and on about the beauty of a mullet, the keys to controlling your novel’s pacing are language and conflict and scene sequence and stakes. We’re going to talk about those today.
What’s pacing?
It’s how fast or slow the story goes for the reader.
Let’s start with word choice. The words you choose can speed up the reader or slow them down. The way the words are grouped on the page? Same thing.
Those four things speed things up.
And these things below? They slow that story down.
Special Help: If all your sentences are the same length and are constantly parallel in construction, you lull the reader to sleep. No sleeping readers, okay? You fall asleep, you run the risk of getting a mullet.
In the scenes you choose, there needs to be some stakes and some conflict.
Stakes happen when your reader cares about the character and is worried about what might happen to them if they don’t reach their goals. In every scene that stays in your book, there needs to be a stake and a goal.
You can’t just have your character chilling with her bestie if there’s no point in that chillin. You need obstacles and tension and the reader needs to think, “Yikes! What happens if they fail?”
It’s really one of the biggest things about pacing. Because not having conflict and stakes and tension? It makes the reader stop reading.
And here it is. The big one. In your story, just like in your life, there will be action moments and turning points and then moments where you think about those big action moments.
Dwight Swain called these moments in a book scenes (the action moments) and sequels (the reflective moments).
Or as I like to call them, LOUD scenes and QUIET scenes. And you want these scenes to be balanced so that the reader doesn’t get bored or the opposite, scream “THIS IS TOO MUCH!!! AH! ANXIETY!”
Randy Ingermanson of the Snowflake method gives three components to each:
Pretty cool, right?
Control your pacing; control your story.
Humans are always go-go-go. Life is too fast paced. Slow your roll so you can enjoy your belly rubs, walks, and treats.
https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/head/article/44884/1/mullet-subculture-hair-history
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License.
Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free.
WE HAVE EXTRA CONTENT ALL ABOUT LIVING HAPPY OVER HERE! It’s pretty awesome.
We have a podcast, LOVING THE STRANGE, which we stream biweekly live on Carrie’s Facebook and Twitter and YouTube on Fridays. Her Facebook and Twitter handles are all carriejonesbooks or carriejonesbook. But she also has extra cool content focused on writing tips here.
Carrie is reading one of her raw poems every once in awhile on CARRIE DOES POEMS. And there you go! Whew! That’s a lot!
So, last week, our listeners requested (nay, demanded) that we talk about ghost sex in honor of Halloween week.
Shaun, of course, was all in.
Carrie, of course, was like, “Are you all serious?”
Yet, she’s conflict averse so here we go.
The first step to having Shaun’s fantasy come true is apparently attracting the ghost to your house. WE DO NOT SUGGEST TRYING THIS!
Over on SPEAKING OF THE DEAD (link in the podcast notes), there are a few ways/things that attract spooky spirits.
1. Psychic abilities.
2. Neglected homes with neglectful occupants.
3. Passive people.
4. Volatile people and relationships.
5. Old houses.
6. People obsessed with ghosts.
The next thing you have to determine is whether or not ghosts get all hot and bothered like a cast member of the Golden Girls.
According to higgy pop, yes, yes, they do. Oh, wait. No. Maybe?
Origins
For as long as humans have been conscious of a spiritual realm, humans have dreamed, fantasized, and (some claim) experienced doing it with ghosts. Medieval legends told the tale of Succubus and Incubus, demons who would invade human bodies and have sex with them. It’s a long-standing, cross-cultural phenomenon, and one that probably isn’t going away anytime soon.
How Does It … Work?
Most people experience ghost sex as a dream, or as they’re falling into or out of sleep. Scientists estimate it’s because our brains are especially susceptible to hallucinations at those times.
Paranormal Activity 2 actress Natasha Blasick described her experience with ghost sex thusly:
Suddenly I could feel that somebody was touching me and the hands were pushing me against my will. And I could feel the weight of the body on top of me my body was pushed in different directions. And at first i w as very confused with all that, then I just decided to relax and it was really, really pleasurable.”
Also from The Cut (which I am now in love with):
Anna Nicole Smith famously had this to say about ghost sex in an interview with FHM in 2004:
“A ghost would crawl up my leg and have sex with me at an apartment a long time ago in Texas. I used to think it was my boyfriend, then one day I woke up and found it wasn’t.”
And Ke$ha made headlines in 2012 for claiming she too had boned a spirit. “It’s about experiences with the supernatural … but in a sexy way,” she told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show. “I had a couple of experiences with the supernatural. I don’t know his name! He was a ghost! I’m very open to it.”
https://www.higgypop.com/news/do-ghosts-get-sexually-aroused/
https://www.speakingofthedead.com/how-to-attract-a-ghost/
https://www.thecut.com/2014/08/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ghost-sex.html
https://www.ranker.com/list/women-ghost-hookup-stories/jacob-shelton
https://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=8117
https://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=8117
https://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=12471
The amazing writer and human, Ellen Booraem, spent nineteen years as a small-town journalist before quitting her day job to write four award-winning fantasies for readers ten and older (The Unnameables, Small Persons with Wings, Texting the Underworld and River Magic.
In this bonus podcast, we talked about Ellen’s writing tips to deal with writing blocks, the big leaps she took to start a fiction career at 52, and the incredibly cool WORD festival (the annual Blue Hill Maine literary arts festival) that’s coming up this October (which you should all check out).
We also touch on how working at a newspaper made us visual writers and trained us for fiction.
Ellen volunteers as a writing coach for students in her local middle school and is a founding organizer for Word, the annual Blue Hill (Maine) literary arts festival. Having ventured from her early time as Alton Hall Blackington’s next door neighbor in coastal Massachusetts, she now lives in coastal Maine with her partner, painter Robert Shillady.
Publisher’s Weekly called Ellen’s latest novel, “A dense emotional core, resonant voice, and themes of grief, shifting friendships, and family enliven Booraem’s contemporary fantasy, reminding readers that ‘hope is everywhere.’”
To find out more about Ellen and her books, check out Ellen’s website:
To find out more about WORD (which is online this year), check out its website:
And Word’s full schedule including workshops, art, and readings is here:
