Plots - Are Your Characters Driving or Are You?

Plots are the work of the devil. Yes, I'm sorry, but they are. They join internal conflict in their very own special circle of hell. At least, in my own personal writing hell. Why is this you say? Well, because in Modern Heat land (and no doubt in Modern/Presents land too), the plot needs to be driven by the characters. But surely every plot is driven by the characters? After all, without any characters, you wouldn't have a plot right?

It's true that of course without any characters you wouldn't have a plot, but it does not mean that every plot is character driven. This is something that I have slowly been coming to learn over the past few months, especially after Michelle pointed out the flaws in my synopses. In fact, it was something I already knew, but just didn't understand until now.

So what's the difference? Well, I'm still learning and naturally enough I am no expert but here's what I see as the difference. In your suspense/mystery/SF/fantasy/paranormal etc the action is usually plot driven. This is when external circumstances force the characters to act. But character driven plots are where the action is driven by decisions and actions the character makes themselves and not due to external circumstances (which is why internal conflict is so important because this affects how they act). Now, feel free to tell me this is a load of old bollocks and I've got it wrong, but that's what I think is the difference.

Anyway, like I said, for Modern Heat, the action/plot must be driven by the hero and heroine. Which means that if you have an overly complicated set up, you end up forcing your h&h to act in response to your plot, and not because of decisions or actions that they make themselves. Which in turn can make them act in a contrived way. Does that make sense?

A prime example of this is my rejected ms - which was rejected partly because of the setup and because I was trying to force my heroine into acting in a way that she wouldn't. My setup was that my heroine had to use an internet dating site to set up a blind date for research she was doing into the internet dating scene. This was not the problem. The problem was that I had made my heroine a socially inept geek for whom blind dates and dating full stop was anaethma. Good in terms of setting up tension, but not so good for a character driven plot. Why not? Well, why would a socially inept geek want this assignment in the first place? And so I had to make her go through with it by setting up a pushy friend, a broken relationship she wanted to get over, a boss that would fire her if she didn't, etc, etc. You see how I complicated everything? Just so I could force my poor heroine to go on her date.

Now making this setup character driven would have been easy if only I had made my heroine make the decision to go through with the date herself. So she takes charge of the action rather than her responding to the actions of the plot. Maybe she took the blind date assignment because she wanted to do something different, maybe she took it because she wanted to change her life. But in order to make her take charge, she would have to have been a different sort heroine, with a different sort of conflict, and that would mean rewriting the whole book - hence the rejection.

Which brings me to the current wip. I have a fake engagement in the middle of it and although this does stem from an action the character takes, I fear I have manipulated things in order to make the character take that action rather than letting things take their natural course. Since this is in the synopsis I have submitted, I'm slightly reluctant to take it out but my instinct is to do so. Should I trust my instinct I wonder? But that's a whole other post so I'll stop there!

What does everyone else think about character driven plots? Does this make sense or am I barking up the wrong tree? Maybe I'm simply barking full stop!

Conflict Sorted

Back from the joys of Rotorua. Was lovely actually - the highlight being the spa in the motel (sadly heated by gas and not by hot volcanic rocks) and a night time visit to a wildlife park where we saw a kiwi. You'd think, being an NZ'er, I would have seen tonnes and tonnes of kiwis just running around wild right? Not so. I have seen them of course but only in zoos. They are nocturnal and keep away from humans so to see one in their natural habitat without any glass or bars was kind of cool.

Anyway, one of the other highlights was figuring out my hero's internal conflict! Yay! Admittedly it was really my husband's idea, so full credit to him. He's a psychiatrist you see and this can be very useful when it comes to figuring out conflict and motivations. In the end it wasn't that hard though - again, I have been over-complicating it (me? over complicate? Never!) and adding too much other stuff. I think I have a tendency to do this as I'm peeling away the layers of his character - I'm giving the wretched man too many layers in other words! Either that or the focus isn't as sharp as it should be. Whatever the case, his dead mother is the key. Now all I have to do is avoid any pesky Oedipus complexes... :-)

So, my mission this week is to continue editing the WIP and then, once I've pulled all the strands together, finish it. Which will then let me start writing my bright, new, shiny idea. Luckily with the new idea, all conflicts have been sorted and are ready to fly.

As to the partial - four weeks tomorrow. Not that I'm counting or anything. :-)

What's everyone else up to?

Going to Roto-Vegas

We're off for a couple of days down to Rotorua, the home of boiling mud, hot pools and the smell of rotting eggs. The husband has a conference there and after days of trying and failing to get my hero's conflict sorted, I'm hoping that a break will give me some ideas too.

Rotorua is the 'land of passion' as you can see by this April Fool's day ad that was run through various papers this year, so perhaps the smell will give me some inspiration! I am going to be taking my little laptop with me anyway and hope to have some time to give the wip a re-read, perhaps try to figure out just what I'm doing. I've got three strands of conflict that I could conceivably use but at the moment don't know which one to pursue. And all three is going to be way too complicated to resolve in 50k words. I'm hoping it will become clear in the fullness of time but boy, the man is being ridiculously opaque.

Oh, and why Roto-Vegas? Well, it's a bit of a NZ in-joke. We call it Roto-Vegas because Rotorua is NZ's answer to Las Vegas. Don't know why really because I don't think there are any casinos/burlesque shows/huge neon signs/deserts/Elvis impersonators in Rotorua. But it does have lots and lots of motels/hotels and tourist type stuff to do, not to mention being quite expensive. Ah well, at the moment, being winter here, I'll just settle for a nice hot spa to sit in with a glass of cold bubbly by my side, and perhaps my current hero in tight swim shorts to feed me grapes...but don't tell the husband that. ;-)

Black Moments

Ah, the black moment. The best part of a romance. At least, it's one of my favourites. I do love writing them. If I haven't made at least one of my characters cry and/or reach for the medicinal scotch then I feel I haven't done a very good job. In fact both crying and reaching for the scotch are both good outcomes for me. I like also to have them be mean to each other. In fact, being mean to each other is great to write. No physical violence obviously (unless it's the medicinal scotch against a wall) but there does tend to be lots of cutting remarks, hateful sarcasm and downright lashing out.

Being hurtful has to be well motivated though, which is why the black moment is so great. Because all that emotion has to be got out somehow and when you're scared and angry and confused, that's what you do. It's also where you say the things you'd never say normally. That's when my characters confront each other with the big questions, the ones they've been dancing around the whole book. And the big questions don't have easy answers because this is internal conflict here and it's not easy to resolve (otherwise there wouldn't be a book, right?).

I think it's in writing the black moment that I love writing romance the most. All the emotion in it is so powerful. Those gutwrenching, painful scenes are also great because if you've written them well and your reader is thinking 'how on earth are these two going to work it out?' , it makes the resolution that much more wonderful.

Actually, sometimes in the first draft, I don't know how they'll work it out. I have a general idea but it's not until I'm in the thick of it that'll I realise what they need to do in order to be together. In fact, sometimes it's not until that black moment that I understand that what I think the conflict is, is actually something deeper. My current WIP I know is going to be along those lines. There's going to be something in that black moment for both my characters that I haven't figured out yet. Obviously they're both afraid (because fear is at the root of it) and I generally know why but I have a feeling there's going to be more to it than what I initially thought. Better get on to it, hadn't I?!

So, what's your favourite scene to write?

The Hook - Vital Plot Element or Unnecessary Complication?

Okay, you'll all be pleased to know that I'm done with the crows (until I hear from the eds I guess but NTAI!). My poor climber has been left to languish at a crucial moment so I should probably get back to him and give him his HEA. However, my sticking point is my plot. I have a fake engagement hook in the middle of it and though it stems from actions the characters themselves take, I'm wondering if it's a tad unbelievable. It's purpose is mainly to force the h&h together and maybe to deepen his conflict a bit but I'm still doubtful about it. Do they really need something to force them together? Can't they just be together because they're having a hot affair? I'm at 44k already and the black moment isn't coming for a wee while yet, so maybe my fake engagement is just an unnecessary complication...

The other thing I'm having doubts about is my timeline. Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else think that two weeks is an awfully short time to fall in love? Or is it just the nature of the genre and two weeks is fine and I'm being overly picky?
I don't know. Until I get over these stumbling blocks, I'm not sure I can finish the WIP. Might just wait until I hear back about whether the story is a goer or not.

Anyway, in the meantime, I have gone back to rewriting my Feel the Heat entry. It's so much better now I've got the conflict sorted! Since the editorial assistant asked me about it, I think I might submit that one next should the other one not succeed.

Ah conflict, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways....

Hard Slog

Well, coming into the home straight with my re-write of my climber story, but it feels at the moment like wading through treacle. Not quite sure why. I'm really having to force myself to keep going with this one. Initially I was quite excited about it but the last third of the book has been a struggle. Maybe it's because although I know where the conflict is going, the action feels slow and - yes, go on, say it - boring. Or maybe it's just having to wrestle with my submission doubt and wishing I would hear back about it so I can get some clear direction about how to proceed. No chance of that in the near future!

It doesn't help having a bright and shiny new idea that's calling to me. It feels wrong to leave the climber story unfinished while I immerse myself in the excitement of a new story. Then again, a change is as good as a rest huh? Hmmm, might just go and do a quick synopsis... ;-)

Presents Writing Competition

Great news re the new competition at I Heart Presents. Another fabulous opportunity for people to bypass the usual wait and get their stuff in front of an editor.

Seeing as how I was a runner up in the previous comp and given what I've learned since, thought I'd post a few bits of advice for those keen to enter.

• The key to the romance is the conflict, especially internal conflict. To work out your internal conflict, put the h&h in a room with no one else, no car chases or kidnaps, and ask yourself why can't they be together right now? It must be something inside the characters, their thoughts, feelings, and experiences that make them think they cannot be together. And their reasons must be strong. It can't just because the heroine doesn't like rich men or the fact that he's arrogant. Why doesn't she like rich men? Why doesn't she like arrogance?
  
• Your readers will live through your heroine so make her someone that everyone can imagine being. Someone that everyone can relate to. Stay away from stereotypes and extremes of behaviour.
• Stick to the guidelines (ie don't add paranormal elements to what is obviously not a paranormal line).
  
• Read as many Modern/Modern Heat as you can get your hands on.
• Remember the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. Which means don't overcomplicate your plot with intricate suspense elements, lots of secondary characters, or subplots. Keep the focus on the h&h and their conflict.
• These are short romances so the hero must appear - ideally - in the first page or two, and he must be alpha. The guidelines for the MH hero have changed a bit - he's more alpha than he used to be so keep that in mind.

No doubt lots of published authors will be posting advice too so keep an eye on the blogs of your favourites to pick up some great tips. I Heart Presents will have lots of sage advice for your entries as well.

I posted some of the editorial feedback I received from my competition entry last year on my blog so do feel free to look through the blog archives if you want to see what they told me about mine. And why it wasn't successful! I think the entry is still up on the I Heart Presents site in the archives somewhere (they didn't put it up until this year - January I think), so it may be useful to read it and then look at the feedback they posted afterward (this is not a subtle attempt to get people to read my writing by the way, more a look at what they liked and what they didn't).

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'm not published but like I said, I've learned a great deal since last year's competition so I may be able to help. The final caveat though is that all of this is my own opinion - the one that really counts is the editors.

Good luck everyone!

Submission Doubt

I've put up my scarecrow again because I've got submission doubt and need something to scare away the crows.
These are particularly ornery ones I have to say. It wasn't so bad the first time around because I was just so pleased to have had a full request. And true, the first lot of revisions were pretty intense but then, woohoo, I'd made it to the full-with-revisions stage and that was a great achievement.

But now I'm starting over and I'm wondering if I can do it again. Published authors must get this when it's time to submit that second book and you have to prove that the first one was more than a fluke. Obviously I'm not at that stage yet but the full-with-revisions is a pretty high benchmark to have to repeat. What if I can't? What if they don't like the story? I think it's better than my rejected manuscript - I've learned so much since then - but what if I've missed something vital?

Well, as Michelle S told me, the only thing I can control is the writing. I have to trust that it's a good story and hope that they'll want to see the rest of it. So I shall, which is why I'm continuing with writing the rest of it. And if it isn't then ONE of my stories will get there. I'm damn well going to make certain of it.

I'd just like to say a big thanks at this point to all the lovely people who visit my sorry blog, and to all the other lovely people on the eHarlequin and Mills and Boon forums who have wished me luck. You guys are the best. Determination gets you a long way in this business but it certainly helps having other people being determined with you. So, thanks.

Anyway, I have had confirmation that my partial was received so it's on with the waiting. And the NTAI. :-)

PS. Did you know that the guidelines for Mills and Boon have been updated? Here they are here.

Sent

I've done it. Sent in my new sub last night. Was going to ship it around a few more people to read but, well, simply couldn't face fiddling with it any more and thought I'd just send it and forget it (sorry guys!).

Haven't heard whether Anna received it or not. I hope she lets me know since the last time I did this, she didn't actually get it! Oh well, will follow up on Friday if I don't hear.

So now it's time to NTAI and rewrite the rest of the manuscript!