What secret is your character keeping? Why are they safeguarding it? What’s at stake if it’s discovered? Does it need to come out at some point, or should it remain hidden?

This is some of the important information you need to know about your character’s secrets—and they will have secrets, because everyone does. They’re thorny little time bombs composed of fear, deceit, stress, and conflict that, when detonated, threaten to destroy everything the character holds dear.

So, of course, you should assemble them. And we can’t wait to help.

This thesaurus provides brainstorming fodder for a host of secrets that could plague your character. Use it to explore possible secrets, their underlying causes, how they might play into the overall story, and how to realistically write a character who is hiding them—all while establishing reader empathy and interest.

Maybe your character. . .

Using a False Identity

ABOUT THIS SECRET: A character who has made regrettable choices may need to distance themselves from their old life through a false identity. Perhaps they’re wanted by police, they tried to shake down a vengeful enemy, or they’ve adopted an alter ego to hide criminal behavior. This entry will focus on nefarious reasons for living under a false name.

SPECIFIC FEARS THAT MAY DRIVE THE NEED FOR SECRECY: Being Attacked, Being Judged, Being Returned to an Abusive Environment, Being Unsafe, Death, Government, Losing Autonomy, Losing One’s Social Standing, Losing the Respect of Others, Persecution

HOW THIS SECRET COULD HOLD THE CHARACTER BACK
Being unable to have open, honest, and trusting relationships (lest someone finds out)
Needing to avoid certain places, people, and situations where they might be recognized
Never feeling truly safe or at ease (always looking over their shoulder)
Being restricted to activities that will not require a thorough document check
Having to choose a job for its anonymity rather than an interest or skill

BEHAVIORS OR HABITS THAT HELP HIDE THIS SECRET
Changing their appearance
Being skilled at lying and deception
Aligning with the expectations of others
Moving from place to place, being nomadic
Moving far away from where they used to live

ACTIVITIES OR TENDENCIES THAT MAY RAISE SUSPICIONS
Odd behaviors (a tendency to not touch things, pay only with cash, etc.)
Becoming morally flexible when certain opportunities come up
Being caught in a lie, especially over something that seems silly to lie about
A vice being discovered (such as gambling or drug use) that doesn’t fit who they claim to be
Pointing out things the average person wouldn’t know: See that guy? Stay away from him–he’s a pickpocket.

SITUATIONS THAT MAKE KEEPING THIS SECRET A CHALLENGE 
Marrying into a family who have members in law enforcement
Witnessing a crime (or being the victim of one) and being questioned by police
Winning a prize unexpectedly, becoming the focus of local attention
Running into someone from their old life

Other Secret Thesaurus entries can be found here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

While this thesaurus is still being developed, the rest of our descriptive collection (18 unique thesauri and growing) is accessible through the One Stop for Writers THESAURUS database.

If you like, swing by and check out the video walkthrough for this site, then give our Free Trial a spin.

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Character Thesaurus Entry: Using a False Identity appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Another book joins the family today: The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Stress and Volatility!

Writing authentic emotional reactions can be difficult when a character is the sort to hide what they feel. Whether it’s due to fear, painful past trauma, or personal insecurities, they believe that if they keep their emotions in check, it will save them from being judged, feeling vulnerable, or being viewed as weak.

Sure, self-preservation is common in the real world (don’t we all hide our feelings at times?) but in fiction, it can spell disaster.

Why? Because emotions need to be accessible to readers if we want them to care.

One way or another, our characters need to reveal what they truly feel, and this is where an emotion amplifier can be a handy tool. These states or conditions act as a challenge, conflict, and emotional destabilizer all rolled into one.

Pain, pressure, competition, mortal peril, arousal…these and other amplifiers have the power to increase a character’s volatility, making it nearly impossible for them to emotionally self-regulate. This sets them up for overreactions, misjudgments, and (hopefully) colossal mistakes they will need to fix and learn from. 

A Companion to The Emotion Thesaurus

What began as a small ebooklet is now an expanded second edition that explores 52 unique amplifiers capable of causing physical, cognitive, and psychological strain. In addition to our signature descriptive lists, this companion will show you how to use amplifiers to enhance inner conflict, overturn the status quo, reveal deeper emotions & vulnerability, and create opportunities for your characters to gain self-awareness and personal growth!

A more detailed look at this book
The list of amplifiers covered in this guide
What writers are saying about The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus
Where to find it in print and digital formats or buy direct as a PDF.

Win a Free Workshop!

We are so excited for you to meet this new book we’re doing something fun to celebrate: a workshop giveaway! If you’d like to win a seat in a Zoom webinar where we’ll dive into Emotion Amplifiers and show you their superpowers, enter below.

Giveaway now closed – watch your inboxes!

Psst! Your odds are great – our Zoom room holds 100 seats!

The date and time for this workshop are yet to be determined, but if you win and can’t make it in person, don’t worry. A recording will be available for a limited time.

Enter by May 17th, and good luck!

Don’t forget to let your writing friends and clients know about this giveaway – we’d love to see you all win seats!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Release Day: The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus Is Here (& a Giveaway!) appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

When we create a story world for readers, we are implanting images and sensory details. From which, the reader fills in the gaps. If we skew that world in any way, we pull the reader out of their base model. And ultimately, out of the story itself.

Examples of Oopsies:

• blue eyes turn brown
• a limp or lisp mysteriously vanishes
• the sun rises outside the west-facing window
• an ocean appears in the middle of the desert
• the MC’s house has hardwood floors, yet in the previous book they had wall-to-wall carpeting

Creating a fictional world requires creativity, consistency, and attention to detail.

10 Tips to Ensure a Smooth Transition from One Book to Another

Create an overarching series bible and a story bible for individual book(s). The story bible contains things like:

• Description of main characters, including the correct spelling of their names
• Description and names of secondary characters
• Description of villains, including epithets (if applicable)
• Victim profiles (if important)
• Characters’ professions
• Killer(s) MO and/or signature (if applicable)
• Pets, including deceased pets (if applicable)
• Tattoos or piercings
• Scars—emotional and physical
• Favorite jewelry
• Marital status/relationships
• Important dates (birthdays/anniversaries)
• Family ties
• Themes
• Setting
• Backstory
• Housing
• Favorite scent (cologne/perfume/shampoo/body spray/lotion)
• Accent (if any)
• Home décor and architecture
• Cherished treasures/family heirlooms
• Timelines
• Main plots
• Subplots
• Future scene ideas

In the story bible for each book, focus on minute details. Did you describe the MC’s home? Include the passage. Does the MC read a lot? Include book titles, if mentioned in the novel. Did you describe the town or the MC’s favorite breakfast joint? Include the passage.

The series bible should include details about the story world and generalized descriptions of the characters.

No need to repeat the descriptions of main and secondary characters unless they’ve changed in some way i.e., MC got a small ankle tattoo in the last book. Or she now has a scarred cheek from an automobile accident. Breast implants, liposuction, collagen lips, Botox, or other plastic surgery.

Do include theme, subplot, setting, ringtones, pets, updated backstory to include previous books, new characters, new fears, or old traumas resurfacing, new or perfected skills, favorite foods, favorite cocktail(s), food allergies, jobs, etc. etc. etc.

We forget. A lot. With multiple books in a series, our recall worsens. If we write in more than one series, it’s even easier to forget minute details.

Tips to Create Story Worlds

• Establish a Core Concept

What is the concept or theme? Is the book set in a post-apocalyptic world? Dystopian future? Historical time? When or where does the story take place? Even if you never include the month or year in the WIP, knowing the approximate date helps to establish weather patterns, sunrise/sunset times, etc.

• Geography

Develop physical landscapes, landmarks, cultures, and traditions. What are the residents like in this town? Stepford-esque? Back-country rural? A bustling city? Beach/island community?

• History

Even if you never use these details in the WIP, you should know the history of your world. Did a major event cause an upheaval? Are there lingering effects? What are the natural resources? What is the terrain and climate like? Any landmarks?

• Culture and Society

Who inhabits your world? What is the culture like? How is the diversity? Does the culture and/or society cause conflict? How so? What’s the transportation like—horses, vehicles, taxis, buses, bicycles, motorcycles, or do most people drive mopeds or golf carts on the streets?

• Languages

What is the predominate language of your world? Any secondary languages? Do language barriers cause conflict for the MC?

• Societal Norms and Taboos

What are societal norms for your world? Is there an Amish community? Is there a robust Indigenous community? Do their traditions and culture conflict or complement the MC’s background? Any taboos?

• Leave Room for Changes

Don’t describe your story world in so much detail that it doesn’t allow for deeper exploration in later books. You may love it today, but ten books later it could hamstring you.

We can either create a story bible during the writing process or after. I prefer to do it once the first draft is complete. If I stop to scrawl notes during the drafting stage, it slows me down. Do whatever works best for you. These are guidelines, not rules.

Did I miss anything? Please share.
Any other advice from your experience?

SUE COLETTA - Resident Writing Coach

Sue Coletta is an award-winning crime writer and active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Feedspot and Expertido.org named her Murder Blog “Best 100 Crime Blogs on the Net.” She also blogs at the Kill Zone (Writer’s Digest “101 Best Websites for Writers”). Her backlist includes psychological thrillers, the Mayhem Series (books 1-3), Grafton County Series, and true crime/narrative nonfiction. Now, she exclusively writes eco-thrillers, Mayhem Series (books 4-7 and continuing). Sue’s appeared on the Emmy award-winning true crime series, Storm of Suspicion, and three episodes of A Time to Kill on Investigation Discovery. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Sue below or at www.suecoletta.com.

The post Top Story World and Story Bible Tips appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

We’ve probably seen advice warning that any time our story revisits information, we risk the idea feeling repetitive or redundant to readers if we’re not careful. Not surprisingly, the same risk can apply even across books in a series.

Yet when we write a book series, we usually need to repeat some information from book to book. Depending on the type of series, we might need to repeat character introduction or worldbuilding information, or we might need to touch on events from previous books, and so on. So how can we avoid the repetitive/redundant risk when presenting information in a book series?

Series 101: Types of Series

To understand our options for how to handle repeating information, we first need to determine the type of series we’re writing. In general, books are designated a series because they share at least one element:

• Shared Setting: These series take place in the same “world” but each feature different point-of-view (POV) characters. The characters of book two may or may not have been introduced in book one. The events of book two may or may not be dependent on the events of book one.
• Shared Character(s): These series feature the same POV character(s). The events of book two may or may not be dependent on the events of book one.
• Shared Story Arc: These series follow a story arc over several book installments. Each book usually features at least some of the same characters. Sometimes a story will end with a cliffhanger to be resolved in the next book. These books need to be read in order.

Which Category Best Fits Our Series?

We need to determine which category best fits our series, as the writing techniques that work best for handling repeated information vary for different types of series. For example, when series books are standalone, we use different techniques than when the books must be read in a certain order.

What if the books can make sense out of order but are connected enough to make events of one book affect the next book?

In this case, the series usually has less focus on the overall Shared Story Arc than the other shared elements, so the standalone techniques of the Shared Character or Shared Setting categories will likely be the most helpful to us. However, it’s also possible that that our series may change category near the end.

Some series can be read in any order until the last book(s), when the minor Shared Story Arc threads referenced throughout the series grow in importance to create a series-level story. For these series, to get the most out of the final book, readers should be familiar with the rest of the series first. In this situation, we can use the Shared Character/Setting techniques in the earlier books, and then when that Shared Story Arc finally takes over as the main focus of the book, we can change to use the Shared Story Arc techniques in the later book(s). We should just let readers know that they’ll get the most out of the last book(s) if they read the other books first.

Want to learn the Techniques for Series Based on Shared Setting
or the Techniques for Series Based on Shared Character?
Check out Jami’s companion post!

Techniques for Series Based on Shared Story Arc

The most important aspect of Shared Story Arc series is that if we intend to write the books with an assumption that readers have read previous books, we need to include that information in our marketing materials. For example, our book description/back-cover blurb should mention that this is book number-whatever in our series, and readers should start at the beginning of the series.

So if readers will read the books in a certain order, does that mean we shouldn’t bother repeating information at all? Unlikely.

Even within a single book, we still need to give readers hints about small details they may have forgotten since the earlier reference. For example, we might mention how a minor character is related to the story if they haven’t been on the page for several chapters, such as using a tag like “her brother.” (She couldn’t go to George for help, as her brother still hadn’t forgiven her for the last catastrophe.)

With a series, there’s usually months or years between the releases of our series’ books, or even if we release the series in a bundle, readers might not binge them all at once. So just like our techniques within a single book, we often need to find ways to trigger readers’ memory of earlier information.

Assuming we’ve let readers know that it’s essential to start the series at the beginning, we can focus on repeating a minimal amount of information with these 3 techniques…

#1: Use Just Enough Information to Trigger Readers’ Memory

In standalone series, we need to share enough information to get new readers up to speed, and that means re-introducing characters, the story world, and treating previous events as backstory. However, in story-arc series, we can shortcut a lot of repeated information by sharing just enough to trigger readers’ memory.

For example, rather than re-establishing why our protagonist is estranged from their family, we might just allude to the fact that they’re estranged from them. Or rather than sharing paragraphs of explanation to introduce main characters or the setting/story world, we might just state aspects of characters and the story world as facts and avoid the feeling of a re-introduction. In other words, focus on facts not explanations.

This memory-triggering process may look like one of these options, depending on the importance of the details:

• a short tag: her office nemesis,
• a sentence: She’d still never forgiven her coworker for stealing her idea, or
• a paragraph: She’d still never forgiven her coworker for stealing her idea. In fact, the more she’d thought about Andrew’s undeserved raise and promotion, the more upset she’d gotten. Soon, though, her plan for revenge would have its day.

The more important a fact, such as a major aspect of the story, the more strongly we should trigger readers’ memory with essential details in case they can’t remember. Do readers need to know the protagonist is traumatized by her father’s death in the previous book? Share how that trauma is affecting her currently, and thus include the fact of the death event along the way, much as how we’d treat any backstory.

If we need more than a paragraph or two to share the necessary details of important information with returning readers, we can try the next suggestion to avoid repeating ourselves too much.

#2: Use Different Circumstances to Mention Repeated Information

For important information, we need to ensure that readers remember enough that they’ll understand events. When our story requires us to repeat more than a condensed paragraph of information, we can avoid the feeling of too much repetition by changing the circumstances of our reveal.

For example, if we initially revealed the information in a shocking twist, a follow-up book may remind readers of the information via:

• a dialogue exchange,
• a different character bringing it up,
• internal monologue,
• an exploration of the aftereffects,
• a traumatic flashback, or
• being part of a conflict, etc.

Different techniques will fit best with different storytelling styles. The point is to change the circumstances so we’re forced to use different words, phrases, and descriptions to reduce the sense of déjà vu.

#3: Focus on How the Information Has Changed

In addition, we can emphasize how any repeated information has changed over the story’s arc. Or if the information itself hasn’t changed, we can bring it up by mentioning how characters have changed their perspective about it.

For example, we may explore how the POV character feels about it, how skilled they are at dealing with it, how they plan on taking advantage of it, etc. Revisiting the repeated information with some type of update can be a great way to ensure the repetition isn’t redundant, as readers are learning something new.

Final Thoughts about Avoiding Repetition in Series

With the right writing techniques, we can avoid—or at least minimize—the issue of readers feeling a sense of déjà vu as we repeat information in our series. When we find ways to change the information or how we deliver that information, we ensure readers are learning something new or seeing the information through a different perspective, and that gives them a reason to keep reading. *smile*

Want to learn techniques for Shared Setting or Shared Character series? Visit my companion post!

Have you written a series and struggled with how to revisit information? Can you think of any other techniques we can use to avoid a sense of repetition or redundancy? Do you have any questions about these techniques or how to approach repeating information in a series?

JAMI GOLD - Resident Writing Coach

Jami Gold put her talent for making up stuff to good use, such as by winning the 2015 National Readers’ Choice Award in Paranormal Romance for her novel Ironclad Devotion.

To help others reach their creative potential, she’s developed a massive collection of resources for writers. Explore her site to find worksheets—including the popular Romance Beat Sheet with 80,000+ downloads—workshops, and over 1000 posts on her blog about the craft, business, and life of writing. Her site has been named one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writer’s Digest. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Jami below.

The post Continuing a Series: Is This Info Too Repetitive? appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

For the better part of two months, Becca and I have been exploring pain, and how to write about it in fiction. It’s been enlightening for us, and we hope for you as well. So many ways to torture characters, who knew?

(Well, we did. And you did. Pain is sort of our bread and butter, isn’t it?)

But maybe you missed a post or two. It happens. You were on a writing retreat, or vacationing at the lake. Maybe you were hiding out in a sleeping bag in the woods, denying the arrival of fall and Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

Whatever the case may be, we’ve got you. Here are all the posts in this series.

The Three Stages of Awareness

Pain has 3 stages: Before, During, and After. For realistic and logical description, you’ll want to know what all three will look like for your character and the type of injury.

Different Types of Pain to Explore

Discomfort comes in all shapes and sizes, including physical, psychological, and spiritual pain. Mine this post for ideas on how to bring something fresh to your story by targeting a variety of soft spots.

Describing Minor Injuries

Cuts, stings, and scrapes create discomfort and can easily lead to bigger problems. You’ll find loads of descriptive detail for showing smaller injuries here, and how they can make your story more realistic.

Describing Major or Mortal Injuries

Sometimes a wound is serious, casting doubt on whether your character will survive this crisis. Fill your mental toolbox with ideas on what happens when your character is stricken with an injury with no easy fix.

Describing Invisible Injuries and Conditions

Not every injury leaves a physical mark, and when you can’t see it, you don’t know how bad it is. Invisible injuries and conditions are a great vehicle to encourage readers to worry about characters they care about.

Factors that Help or Hinder One’s Ability to Cope

We all hope we’ll cope well when injured, but certain factors make it easier–or harder–to handle pain. This list will help you steer how a character responds!

Taking an Injury from Bad to Worse

No one likes to get hurt, but when circumstances are afoot that cause that injury to worsen? Tension and conflict, baby. So, when you’re feeling evil, read this one to see how you can raise the stakes.

Everyday Ways a Character Can Get Hurt

We want to immerse readers in the character’s everyday world, so it helps to think about where dangers and threats might be lurking so we can create a credible collision with pain that comes from a believable source.

Best Practices for Writing Pain in Fiction

Finally, we round up this series with unmissable tips on how to take pain scenes from good, to great. Authenticity is key, and of course, showing and not telling. Don’t miss these final tips to help you write tense, engaging fiction!

We hope this mother lode of pain posts helps you level up your stories.

Pain is an Emotion Amplifier, and a powerful one at that, so putting in extra effort to showcase it well is worth the time.

Pain presents a challenge for your character while making them more emotionally volatile, and prone to mistakes. This means tension and conflict, drawing readers in!

Pain also helps empathy form because people know pain, and so when a character they care about is battered and bruised, or beset by trauma, readers can’t help but be reminded of their own experiences, and worry over what will happen next.

Other Compilation Posts

If you found this collection of resources helpful, you might be interested in some of our other posts that contain a mother lode of topic-related information.

How to Write about Character Occupations
How to Show (Not Tell) Character Emotions
How to Create Phenomenal First Pages
How to Write Conflict that Has Maximum Impact
How to Choose & Employ Your Character’s Talents and Skills
How to Write about a Character’s Emotional Wounds
How to Use Amplifiers to Stress Characters & Elevate Emotion

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Want to Show Your Character’s Pain? Here’s Everything You Need to Know appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

If there’s one thing writers like to do, it’s to make characters suffer. We are all about bringing forth pain and crises, whether it be emotional, physical, spiritual, or existential. Is it because we’re a little messed up and we enjoy torturing characters? Or do we create difficult scenarios in our stories to illustrate the fact that life is painful sometimes?

Probably both.

No matter what our reasons for holding our character’s figurative (and possibly literal) feet to the fire, we need to do a bang up job of describing it. So join us for a deep dive on all things painful, starting with…

Pain & Your Characters: The Three Stages of Awareness

Before: Anticipating Pain

Sometimes a character won’t see a threat coming, but if they do, we gain a terrific opportunity to draw readers into the moment and heighten their emotions alongside the character’s. The anticipation of pain is something we all know, and so it’s an effective way to generate empathy for characters experiencing it.

When something bad is about to happen, a character may only have a heartbeat or two to steel themselves, tensing their muscles clamping their teeth tight, flinching and squeezing their eyes shut. To try and protect themselves further, they might also try to make themselves small, a full body cringe. Or it could be a natural reaction to duck, jerk back, pull away, or attempt to flee. These are all their instinctual fight-or-flight responses kicking in, doing whatever is necessary to protect them (or those they love) in the few seconds they have.

If the threat is farther out, the character’s brain has more time to churn through what might happen. Their knowledge and experiences will conjure up mental flashes of what will happen and the likely wounds and injuries which could occur. Memories may also assault them, reminding them of painful things that have happened to them, and the inescapable weight of dread hits them.

To spur them into action, their adrenaline surges, prompting them to respond in some way – fight, or flee. But if there’s nothing they can do, they may experience a skin crawling sensation in expectation of the painful sensations to come.

Pain isn’t always physical, of course. If they see something coming that they know will hurt them emotionally, your character could become depressed, and at a loss over what to do. Or even though they know what’s coming can’t be avoided, they may stay in bed, refuse to go out, avoid people, lie, or do something else that lines up with a flight response. They could also become anxious, obsess about what’s going to happen, and force a confrontation before they’re fully prepared to deal with it (a fight response).

The source of pain could be anything – a secret about to be uncovered, a marriage nearing the point of ending, or their own child who is dying in the hospital. While we often think about how to cause characters physical pain, mental and emotional pain are just as debilitating.

TIP: Whatever type of pain your character is experiencing, think about their personality, coping methods, and personal fears. This will help you determine how they will respond to threats that bring pain.

During: Physiological and Psychological Processes

When your character feels discomfort, certain things happen. If there’s a physical component, pain receptors pick up on the type of sensory input: heat, friction, tension, cold, pressure, etc. and sends signals to the brain about the area affected, the type of pain, and intensity level. Your character’s instinctual response will be to flee pain, so unless there’s a compelling reason why they must not, you can show your character trying to pull away and escape whatever is hurting them. This is especially the case when they see indicators of damage (a gash, a broken bone, blood, etc.), because the gravity of what’s happening to them hits home.

Your character’s emotional state will also influence how much pain they feel. If the source of it is tied to a fear, emotionally wounding experience, or their anxiety is triggered, the discomfort they feel will be intensified. Pain levels can become so excruciating that a character passes out or enters a state of shock. This is where the body systems slow and they become distanced from their agony.

Another way to use emotion in these situations is to consider feelings that might help them cope with the pain better: anger, rage, determination, etc. They can also use coping mechanisms to handle discomfort, turning to meditation, breathing exercises, self-distraction, talk therapy, etc. to work through it. Some characters might try to numb it with medications, drugs, or alcohol, but if they are attempting to manage pain through mind over matter, it will only work to a certain point. If the pain is extreme, they will no longer be able to handle it, and their responses will become extreme — screaming, writhing, or even passing out.

Characters will also experience a stress reaction to pain, meaning their heart rate and blood pressure can rise, their body becomes increasingly tense, their breathing may change and tears may form.

TIP: Using POV visceral sensations to show what they’re experiencing is a great way to communicate the strain they’re under.

After: Recovery and Aftereffects

After an injury or event that causes pain, your character may have a hard time with mobility, balance, and cognitive processing, so keep this in mind when you show readers what happens next. Your character likely will try and protect the injury, meaning they may hunch over as they walk, cradle a broken arm, limp, or do everything with one hand to save more injury to the other. They might have a loss of energy or motor control, have a delayed reaction time, and seek to distance themselves from others so they can process what happened and heal in private. So think about what your character will be doing in the aftermath of a bodily injury.

Everyone copes with pain differently, especially pain that scores an emotional hit. Time will be needed to fully process what happened, and if the emotional hurt is far too painful to examine, characters try to bury it rather than work through it in a healthy way, leading to personality and behavioral shifts that change how they interact with the world and those in it. Unresolved emotional wounds are sources of ongoing pain, so a bit of research here on what this looks like for the type of wound is key.

If your character suffered a physical injury or illness, the healing process can include different types of pain – tenderness, strain, headaches, itchiness, and the like. They may need to rest or sleep more, and if this is impossible because the danger in ongoing, their energy may drain further. It could slow their healing, and open them to infections and more injuries.

After an injury heals, your character may have scars, less range of movement, or suffer debilitating migraines or other internal reactions. Depending on what they experienced, they may also carry new fears, anxieties, a decreased ability to take risks, and even PTSD or other conditions that they will carry with them. Each new encounter with pain will make your character more wary and watchful for any circumstances where it might reoccur, so remember that as they move forward in the story.

Realistic Fiction Sometimes Means Ignoring Hollywood

Because movies only have so much time to show everything they need to, the stages of pain awareness are sometimes skimmed over. Often there’s a split-second awareness of danger and then the camera focuses on the character being injured, whether it’s a gun shot wound to the thigh or a six-pack of punches to the gut. They falter briefly, then rally to win. But when we see them again after the climax, they are usually not as in bad shape as they should be, or are miraculously fine (I’m looking at you, Jack Ryan, and your ability to be perky and ready to go after several rounds of boiling water-and-salt torture!).

Movies and TV can sometimes get away with this, but books, not so much. Readers want to share the character’s experience, so this means showing things that are true-to-life. You don’t have to go overboard and show every detail, but make sure to convey enough of the before-during-after chain that readers feel the character is responding realistically to pain and injury.

Need more ideas on how to show pain? You’ll find this entry in our Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus.

Other Posts in This Pain Series:

Different Types to Explore
Describing Minor Injuries
Describing Major and Mortal Injuries
Invisible Injuries and Conditions
Factors that Help or Hinder the Ability to Cope
Taking an Injury from Bad to Worse
Everyday Ways a Character Could Be Hurt
Best Practices for Great Fiction

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Writing About Pain: Three Stages of Awareness appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

These two releases happened within days of each other, unplanned, because if we’ve learned anything about building software these last few years it is that releases rarely hit their target date. And that’s okay with us, because the team at One Stop cares far more about quality than deadlines!

Because these two big projects releases so close to one another, we weren’t able to spend as much time describing just how powerful the Character Builder at One Stop for Writers is.

It’s the first tool we’ve created that uses all the content from our many character-specific descriptive thesauruses, meaning as you plan your character’s backstory wound, physical features, personality, skills, etc., the character builder shows you all the options we have in our description databases. Even better, it’s hyper intelligent, so each time you choose a specific detail, the tool prompts you with more options tied to that detail so you can go deeper. Building a fascinating, complex, and unique character now takes half the time!

This alone makes the CB tool different from anything else, but we weren’t finished, so we pinpointed specific details from your character’s profile that, when combined, will create an accurate character arc blueprint:

There are a million other things I could tell you about this tool, but today I want to point out one super helpful feature: the ability to clone characters.

Why Do I Need a Clone?

Many of us write series, meaning we often carry our characters from book to book. But as the series progresses, our protagonist’s goal and motivation will change, they will have different flaws to overcome, and something new will be at stake. Redoing all that character planning seems like a lot of work…unless you can make a clone!

Just click the button, and boom, you have a clone. All their details carry over, and you can focus on whatever changes for the next book: the goal, the stakes, newly-acquired talents, and whatever is motivating them to achieve a specific objective.

And then you can head back to their character arc blueprint and see exactly where the story will go from here!

This is a perfect way to tweak and adapt characters as they grow book to book. It is also handy if a character’s role changes, say if your protagonist had a love interest in book 1, but in book 2, an ugly war pits the lovers against one another and now she’s the antagonist. You’ll need to change certain things about this character but her backstory, personality, beliefs, appearance, etc. will remain the same. What an easy way to save yourself some work!

In just a few short months, One Stop for Writers users have created over 2000 characters using the Character Builder tool!

How amazing is that? And if you’d like to see how deeply layered these characters are, check out our character Paul Graham or watch a video to see this tool in action.

Have you tried out the Character Builder at One Stop for Writers using our Free Trial?

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post The Easiest Way to Plan Characters in a Series: Cloning (Yes, Really!) appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Querying writers have quite a few hurdles to jump through to secure literary representation. For those of you who don’t know what a query is or what I mean by literary representation, let’s go over a few of the basics to start.

There are a few ways to publish a book, one of those being traditional publishing. As of early 2019, the big five publishers—whose names you have likely heard of many times before—are Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, and Simon and Schuster. If you want to be published through the big five or through another traditional publisher, you need to have a literary agent.

Many people call literary agents the “gatekeepers” to the traditional publishing industry. Whether or not that’s true, writers have to pitch their unpublished manuscripts to agents via a query letter, which is essentially a professional cover letter all about your book.

There are certain formats and pieces of information that are expected to be within your query letter, but we won’t dive into that today. To learn more about querying, be sure to check out iWriterly’s Query Hack series, where we critique queries.

Essentially, writers are expected to pitch their book (via a query letter) to one literary agent per agency. Many represented writers have shared that they queried an upwards of 100 literary agents before they signed their contract with their current agent. On average, most writers write an average of four books prior to securing literary representation. That means, they likely wrote several books before writing the book that landed them an agent.

If you do the math, a writer could potentially send out 400 queries (assuming they sent approximately 100 queries per manuscript) before signing a contract with a literary agent.

Now, imagine you write a book that no agent is going to want. You spend a year or more writing and editing the book—both by yourself and with critique partners and beta readers—prior to sending out your 100 queries. You are beyond excited for this book, and you think readers are going to be as captivated about the story and character as you are… if only agents had fallen in love with the first book in the series.

One less known fact about literary agents is that most will not consider representing subsequent books in a series. That means agents need to fall in love with the first book in a series first. If they don’t want to represent book one, they aren’t going to want to represent the whole series.

Therefore, the months—or years—you spent drafting and editing the sequel will not assist you in your goal to land a literary agent. In fact, some might consider having written a sequel a waste of time. Personally, I think that any book written is never a waste of time because it teaches you to hone your writing craft. However, this sequel will unfortunately not be able to assist you in your goal to get literary representation, which is a main stepping stone to becoming traditionally published. In addition, even if you are picked up by an agent, if the agent can’t sell a series to a publisher and only sells a one-book deal, then there is nothing you can do with those sequels.

Instead, once you finish the first book in a series, consider going on to write a new book in a different series (or a standalone). Try to write these books as standalones with series potential. Meaning, a reader can read the first book and feel completely satisfied with where the story ended. There aren’t any glaring cliffhangers to the main plot or conflict. However, there might be little threads that the author could pick up later to write subsequent books in the series.

By writing several first books in different series, you are increasing your chances to secure literary representation—and, eventually, securing book deals with traditional publishers.

MEG LATORRE

Meg LaTorre is a writer, YouTuber (iWriterly), creator of the free query critique platform, Query Hack, co-host of the Publishable show, blogger, and she formerly worked at a literary agency. She also has a background in magazine publishing, medical/technical writing, and journalism. To learn more about Meg, visit her website, follow her on Twitter and Instagram, sign up for her monthly newsletter, and subscribe to her YouTube channel, iWriterly.

The post Why Querying Writers Shouldn’t Write Sequels appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

We’ve probably all heard the advice to end our scenes and chapters on a hook. At the end of every scene or chapter, readers might put down our book and decide against picking it up again, so it’s important to know how we can keep readers interested. Hooks can ensure readers desperately want to stick around to see what happens next.

In that post I linked to above, I shared how we can make the last sentence of every scene stronger. Today, I want to build on those ideas and see what we can learn for our writing by looking at how TV shows build hooks into the end of every act.

How Is TV Writing like Novel Writing?

Just as readers might put down a book at the end of every scene, every commercial break in a TV show can prompt viewers to change the channel. So TV writers structure their stories into acts, one between each commercial break.

TV acts are different from novel acts, which are usually a simple beginning, middle, and end three-act structure. TV-style acts are closer to how we write scenes. (In fact, ad-free shows often still feel like they should have commercial breaks because of this structure.)

Whether for TV or written stories, hooks are an opportunity to make our readers sit up and take notice. While not every scene should end with a “dun dun dun” twist, we should make sure we have enough hooks throughout our story to strengthen the narrative drive, increase the pace, and keep readers engaged.

What Hooks Do TV Acts Use?

Let’s take a look at the types of hooks found in TV shows—some that are commonly used in novels and some that aren’t—and see if they give us ideas for our stories:

• Appearance of Imminent Failure: Hooks that leave the characters facing an immediate threat of failure: knocked unconscious, notification of another serial killer victim, etc.
  These are one of the most dramatic types of hooks, so we want to save them for when our story deserves it—such as the major beats, especially the Black Moment or Climax—or else our writing can veer too close to melodrama.
• Reveal that Changes Perception: Hooks that change everything the characters (or audience) thought they knew: mistaken identity, surprise answer, etc.
  These are also very dramatic hooks that we don’t want to overdo. They’re especially good to use when we want to drastically change the direction of our story.
• Vow to Move Forward: Hooks that show the moment after the “imminent failure” sense of doom or the “reveal that changes everything,” when characters throw caution to the wind because they have no other choice: ignoring orders, taking a risk, etc.
  These hooks are great to use when we think showing characters bonding or making sacrifices will be more emotionally resonant to readers than the “dun dun dun” of the moment before.
• Reminder of Stakes: Hooks that focus on the consequences lying in wait for the characters: someone needs rescuing or they’ll die, find the bad guy or be attacked, etc.
  The “ticking clock” aspect of these hooks helps escalate the stakes and increase the pace with less of a risk of melodrama (usually).
• Jump to Another Point of View: Hooks that are the literary equivalent of zooming out to show the killer stalking the characters.
  Transitioning to another point of view wouldn’t help us end a scene, but this style of hook can be used like a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter, with just a snippet after the end of the main scene.
• Hint of an Epiphany: Hooks that show a character’s had an epiphany but doesn’t yet show what they’ve discovered: answer to the mystery, figured out their feelings, etc.
  These hooks are good when a story question is about to be answered, but we want to drag it out through one more chapter break. These are typically a no-more-than-once-a-story type of hook, however, as they can feel “cheap.”

For each of those different hook categories, we can also change up the style, depending on our focus, such as:

• Emotional: the hook leaves them reeling, distraught, worried, determined, etc.
• Countdown: the hook escalates the tension, worry, dread, etc.
• Opposites: the hook plays out opposite from expected—can also be played for humor: a vow of “I won’t do X,” and jump to them doing X, etc.
• Bling: the hook is written in a flashy (often fragment and punctuation-heavy) style: “She wouldn’t let it happen. Not. A. Chance.”

While TV writing is different from novel writing, we might be able to find inspiration for our stories from the TV side. Next time you watch a TV show, pay attention to how each act ends and see if it helps you with ideas. *smile*

Do you have any questions about hooks—or have other TV-style hooks to share?

JAMI GOLD - Resident Writing Coach

Jami Gold put her talent for making up stuff to good use, such as by winning the 2015 National Readers’ Choice Award in Paranormal Romance for her novel Ironclad Devotion.

To help others reach their creative potential, she’s developed a massive collection of resources for writers. Explore her site to find worksheets—including the popular Romance Beat Sheet with 80,000+ downloads—workshops, and over 1000 posts on her blog about the craft, business, and life of writing. Her site has been named one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writer’s Digest. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Jami below.

The post And…Action! Applying TV Lessons to Chapter Hooks appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Writing one book is hard. Writing an entire series of books, with their interconnecting subplots, arcs, and golden threads, weaving first book to last, is even harder. It’s like doing a puzzle with no opposable thumbs and a blindfold wedged over your eyes. But there are things you can do, to help you progress through your series.

Create a Book Bible

The most useful lesson I ever picked up from writing a series is to create a book bible. This is a document containing all the most important information about your plot, characters and world without including the actual 100,000-word plot!

Why have a book bible? Unless you’re Einstein, I doubt you can remember every detail, character, timeline and subplot. Having a reference guide helps prevent you from turning a thin character into a podgy one or a science tech into a teacher. It can also be handy for other people working on your  novel, like editors and beta readers.

What should you include? The list below is long (and not exhaustive), but only use what’s relevant to you and your series. My book bible started with just a few lines of notes; it’s taken three books to record all of the below.

• Timelines—for each book, the series as a whole, and even events that happened before the story started, if relevant
• Brief description of EVERY character—including distinguishing features and any key plot information where they change events or create action/tension
• Key characters’ ‘wants’ and motivations
• The character’s relationship to the protagonist or other key characters (where it’s relevant to a plot or subplot)
• Family trees
• Spelling of names, locations or special words—including relevant capitalization of words and made-up words
• A map or list of key locations–for example, the fact that your character always takes piano lessons on the 5^th floor of a building
• Glossary
• World building laws—e.g., rules of magic, both how it can and cannot be used
• Societal structures—government, judicial, royal, military hierarchies, etc.

Understand Entry Points

Most readers have to start a series at book one (an entry point). But that creates reader drop-offs because not everyone will read to the end of a long series. It also makes selling the final book in your series, decidedly harder than selling the first. And that gives you a giant marketing problem. But there are ways to get creative with the series and provide multiple entry points for your readers.

Bella Forrest does this beautifully with her multi-million-selling A Shade of Vampire series. It has seven “seasons,” each told from a different family’s viewpoint and containing around eight books. This gives Forrest’s whopping 50-plus book series seven entry points and lots of opportunity to read across the seasons.

When you’re planning your series, consider whether or not you could add one or more of the following:

• A prequel
• A novella slotted between two planned books
• A spin-off series based on other characters

Decide on a Series-Long Character Arc

One of the first lessons we learn as writers is to ensure our protagonist has a character arc – that they change and develop past their flaws into a fully-fledged hero at the end of your book. But what happens if you’re writing a series? Ensuring your characters are engaging for the entire series requires a little more thought. Here are some popular types of arcs you can use over a series:

Groundhog Day Arcs – These characters never change, no matter how many books you run them through (such as James Bond or Sherlock Holmes.)

Same Old Arcs – Characters in this model take an entire series to grow through their flaw—like Harry Potter, who works on leadership and confidence until he’s strong enough to defeat Voldemort.

New Story, New Problem – These characters have to overcome a new flaw or problem in each book. Or they have a different ‘thing’ to get over in each story arc. For example, Woody from Toy Story has to get over his jealousy of Buzz (film one), move past his ego in favor of his heart (film two), and let go of the past (film three.)

Line Up the Villains

Much as it pains me to say it (because I love a good villain), most villains have a three-ish book lifespan before your audience needs closure or you lose the believability of your hero and the credibility of your villain. If your character is chasing the same villain for ten books without any resolution, the audience is going to get tired. And yes, before you mention Harry Potter, I know he chased Voldemort for seven books.

Except, did he? Each Harry Potter book had a different villain or ‘antagonist’ that needed defeating, whether it was a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher or an ethereal form of Voldemort. But technically Voldemort himself didn’t ‘come back to life’ until the end of book four. Meaning each book had a separate villain or conflict, and Voldemort was the overarching series villain.

How do you keep the villain from getting stale over the course of your series?

Here are some suggestions:

• Have two villains, one for the first half of the series and another for the second half
• Have a minor and a major villain—for example, a physical villain and a more societal or intangible villain that’s not embodied in a person. Like President Snow and The Capitol in the Hunger Games
• Have a different villain for each book

A Word On Cliffhangers

Cliffhangers are like Marmite: some readers love them, others hate them. But they’re mighty useful for keeping your audience ploughing through a series. If you include cliffhangers at the end of each book consider the following:

• You need to make absolutely sure you round off every other subplot and story arc in your book.
• Readers prefer faster releases in the series if there are cliffhanger endings.

Series are hard to write, but there are lots of things you can do to make yours the best it can be. Think about your individual book arcs as well as a series arc, consider how many villains you need to keep the story flowing, and finally, remember that more entry points equals more readers and more sales.

SACHA BLACK

Sacha is the author of the #1 bestseller for writers, 13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft A Superbad Villain. Her blog for writers, www.sachablack.co.uk, is home to regular writing, marketing and publishing advice sprinkled with dark humour and the occasional bad word. In addition to craft books, she writes YA fantasy. The first two books in her Eden East Novel: Keepers and Victor, are out now. You can find her manning the helm at The Rebel Author Podcast, and on social media:

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