How to Write a Romance Novel: a guide for creative writing, storytelling, and writing fiction

1. Introduction : So you're interested in reading romance novels. Why is it? Because you want your piece of the most financially lucrative genre and olive fiction? Or is it because of something perhaps more meaningful? After all, a book about love can endure for centuries. Well, whatever your reasons, you should know ahead of time that running a terrific romance novel is difficult. There are so many components involved in crafting a successful story. So many moving pieces for which to consider when articulating your romantic tail. There's plot, structure, character motivation, character psychology, character sensuality, sexuality, withholding, sacrifice, desire, fear, physicality, competition. The variation between the sexes, the narrative stance, the dialogue, the first meeting, the conclusion and resolution, the conflict, the setting, the suspense, the chapter beginnings and endings, the many types of characters and the roles they can play. The neurological sciences that sway your hero and heroine. There are so many moving pieces, many more than just these. And yet the core of the romance novel is ultimately about one thing. A great deal of care has gone into this course because I intimately understand the challenges of writing a book. And I want to ease those challenges for you by offering an effective guiding hand. I know how hard writing a book is, but as a published author, I can promise you that the feeling you get when you finish your book will make all of that struggle worthwhile. I want you to have that feeling. So who am I? You might be asking, well, hopefully I'll be your instructor. And in that process, you can judge for yourself if my lessons have value. My name is Peter Simon, and as far as Credentials go, I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, a master's degree in liberal arts, and a master's degree in English and creative writing. But never mind there's formal degrees. Because the truth is, you will gain more knowledge about writing fiction in this course that I learned from those 30 graduate level classes that I aced. In other words, you could spend thousands of dollars in tuition fees to gain, but a fraction of the knowledge presented in this course. Everything I could think of that as involved in writing a romance novel is included in this course. And not just mentioned to you, but also elaborated upon so that you can gain crystal clarity on each of these components in the story. Teaching the writing craft has long been a dream of mine. But in the pursuit of this dream, I discovered the painful truth that writing fiction is very different from teaching the writing craft. There's so much for you to learn. There's so much to tell you about this craft. So many difficult, complex, and nuanced lessons that must be delivered to you in a manner that has a lasting reach. Therefore, this course is presented in an unusual format. Thousands of royalty-free images and videos and personal visuals are used to facilitate what I believed to be a more effective teaching strategy. Please allow me to explain why I'm using this different presentation approach. Most instructors use bullet points, screenshots, and, or a talking head as the visual medium for transferring their knowledge to you. However, again, range and complexity of this material, I think that a more dynamic teaching approach is required. The use of this teaching tactic is supported by a great deal of research. Sixty-five percent of people are visual learners. Studies have found that the combination of audio and visual teaching strategies allow people to remember much more than usual. We are able to process visuals 60 thousand times faster than we can text. In other words, humans are able to grasp a visual scene and less than 1 tenth of a second. This is largely because 40% of our nerve fibers are linked to our retina, which allows our eye to register 36 thousand messages every hour. Visuals are more entertaining and thus should enhance your engagement with the material. In short, my reasoning for using this presentation format is that it should drastically accelerate your comprehension, your retention, and make the lectures fun. This course was designed with the goal of delivering a vast amount of information to you in a clear and relatively concise manner. I sincerely hope that you will join me throughout the duration of this course. Because I get excited with the hope that I will help you to experience that euphoric sensation of completing your very own book. Hard work and a measurable reward awaits you. There's a story inside of you. Please. Let me help you to get it out. 2. Why Write Romance Novels: Why writes romance novels? You may already have an answer to this question. But if you don't, this lecture might help you find an answer to the why writes romance novels question. There are several good reasons why you should commit to writing romance novels. From an author's perspective. Crafting romance novels would teach you more about writing characterization than any other genre. Stories in the romance genre, or more character-driven than other genres. This means that if someday you decide to write a different type of story, you're likely do well because you will have already mastered the arguably most important part of the craft. Another benefit is that compared to other genres, it's extremely easy to identify your target audience. This clarity increases the odds of you creating a best selling book. You know who your readers are and what they want. I feel obligated to take a moment and just point out the appealing nature of being a writer given technology's trajectory. The traditional job market is currently undergoing a radical shift that will only accelerate as artificial intelligence and other automation technologies improve. Automation in artificial intelligence will continue to take jobs from humans. It's projected that in the not-too-distant future, all human jobs that are based on repetition will be lost to technology. This not only includes so many of the so-called blue collar jobs, but also white-collar jobs like oncologists, pharmacists, and contract lawyers. Software is already able to outperform these highly trained medical specialists. Because while the best doctors can reference thousands of films, a piece of software can reference millions. And the software can detect shades of grey that the human eye cannot see. An enormous amount of people earn their income from driving. But automation is quickly closing in on these jobs as well. As of right now. There are only three types of jobs that are believed to be the last to be automated away. These are the jobs that require the human touch, such as a nurse. Jobs that required non-repetitive dexterity, such as an electrician and a plumber, and a non-visual creative jobs. I say non-visual because AI can already create paintings that can trick eight out of ten art historians. Being a writer of fiction is different from visual art because it integrates many different aspects of non-repetitive creativity. Artificial intelligence can already create dry journalistic pieces, but these are mostly written with the purpose of delivering information. There's no creative aspect in these articles. My point is twofold. First, being a writer will likely offer a level of job security that almost all other fields cannot provide. And to artificial intelligence will probably not take over the literary market. But it will offer tools that can drastically accelerate and ease the process for we writers. For example, they are perfecting software that can mimic a voice actor. So when you finish your manuscript, you will have the ability to have AI transform your book into an audio book. Perhaps even in a celebrity voice that would have otherwise cost you millions. You're likely be able to accelerate the researching process by turning the researching job over to a piece of software, rather than having to spend months exploring search engine results. You'll be able to run your second draft through editing software that will swiftly produce perfect amendment suggestions. Thus, forgoing the need to hire an editor. My point is that after researching this topic of AI, it appears evident to me that while automation will likely steal other jobs, we writers, We'll just have our job made easier by the prevalence of AI. At this point in time, it appears that it's going to be a long time before a piece of software can create a literary masterpiece. In the meantime, AI will make our job more enjoyable, efficient, and profitable. For example, translation technologies are being perfected. It could be that by the time you hear this, you can already translate your book into every known language and from their market, your book around the world. And that will be highly sophisticated marketing software that will drastically increase your return on investment. Now, I feel inclined to say that this course is being created during a pandemic. Economies around the world have all but shut down. Brick and mortar based institutions are really suffering. And the price list nature of human life is being honored on a planetary scale. At this point in time, millions of people have forever lost a job that will possibly never come back. I predict that this pandemic will only accelerate the push towards automation. I don't know when you are listening to this. I don't know what has happened to the world since this course was published. But if things continue on our current trajectory, the answer to the why writes romance novels becomes simple. Beyond the sentimental, which is important. Many people are now scrambling to figure out what they are going to do with their life by way of work. They might not find a solution. But the authors of fiction will, the writers of fiction who'll be enjoying a career that is increasing in demand because their clientele will forcefully have more free time to discover and enjoy their books. But back to why writes romance novels in particular. Well, it's by far the most profitable literary genre. The romance genre, has generated more than double the sales of the next best selling genre, generating sales in excess of a billion dollars. The romance reader is the most loyal and avid Of all the readers. There are roughly 30 million readers locked in the Western world alone. Profit aside, I can tell you that there are a few experiences more rewarding than finishing your final draft. I think it's important that you find a personalized answer to the why question. Such an answer will see you through the writing journey. I hope that this lecture has helped you in answering this question. 3. Setting - part 1: In this section, I'm going to be discussing setting in simple terms. Setting is the time and place where your story takes place. If it's a dominant force in your story. You can also associate overarching elements such as culture and social rules as being part of your setting. Like the Victorian Age and the norms of that age can be considered your setting. Setting is one of the three components of a story. The other two being plot and character of the three setting is often perceived as the most fun to write. But in most cases, it is also the least important of the three least important but not unimportant. Setting is so vital that without it, you don't have a story. Generally speaking, there are two types of settings, real and imagined. There are disadvantages and advantages of both. Real settings inherently provide a sense of reality. As a writer, you can physically go to such locations and walk the steps your characters will take. You can plan out action from the places where your eyes literally are. Or you can go to the likes of Google maps and images and virtually explore such regions. Such an approach will remove the burden of imagining a physical setting for your story. The disadvantage is that your description needs to be accurate. You'd be surprised how much your reader will catch when you deviate too far from the truth. And to compound this problem, many authors who use real settings will spend way more time than is necessary to research a real life setting. It's easy to get lost in such research. Authors that have spent those months diligently researching a specific area will feel enormous pressure to include so much of their research into their book that they will unintentionally hurt their story. This leads us to the advantage of imagined settings. A reader can't complain that your imagined setting is inaccurate. Because as long as it conforms to the rules of your world, it can't be wrong. Imagined settings provide you with the ability to have your setting always perfectly match what your plot and characters need. A disadvantage of imagined settings is that they tend to spiral out of the writer's control. Setting is such an inviting thing to write about that oftentimes, imagine settings inspire purple prose and the inclusion of much more information than is necessary. You can't have a blend of real and imagined settings. This tactic is usually best for non contemporary pieces. You can set your story in a place that exists in the real world, but set in the distant past or future. The fact that your story takes place so far back in the past or future allows you much more freedom to integrate in your imagination when creating your setting. Setting is not just something you have in the background. It isn't just the stage and the props. When used correctly. Setting can function as a channel through which you can navigate much of your stories, plot, and characterization. I'll break this down to help you better understand. A story set 200 years ago on an uninhabited tropical island will require a different plot and character journey than a story set in a city on an alien planet. A story that makes sense in one place may not make any sense in a different place. That's being said. You can use setting to make a rather plain plot more interesting. You're setting is one of those things that you need to be clear on before you start writing your book. In fact, due to the high role that setting can play in a story, many writers began conceiving of a story by first holding some real or imagined location inside their imagination. Of course, you can do the opposite as well. After you have achieved a general understanding of your plot and characters, then decide what setting would be best suited for such characters and plot. If you don't know where to begin, didn't just try to match up your character with your setting. Is your hero rugged, worn-out, and unkempt? When you think of him, does he resembled a cowboy? If so, then he would fit smoothly in some cattle ranch territory rather than a big city. And from this example, you can consider using setting to reinforce plot. Maybe you don't want your hero to fit smoothly into his terrain. Think Crocodile Dundee, where much of his characterization was done by showing him having to adapt to a setting to which he was naturally opposed. Unless you've already committed to a setting. All you really need to do is the old trial and error trick. Use your imagination or a piece of paper if you so choose, hold in your head or write down all of the major elements that you're leaning towards using. Then proceed to ask and answer as many guiding questions as you can think of. What type of characters do you have in your story? What type of story is it? A dark paranormal should look different in your imagination than a Western ranch piece. Does this story feel like it belongs in the past or the present or the future? What type of conflict do you have in your story? Ask such things as, do I want my setting to be my conflict? Such as being trapped on a desert island or trying to survive while in the middle of a massive storm. Or some ruined post-apocalyptic landscape. Or something like The Lord of the Rings or the setting changes and each new change provides a new type of conflict. What changes do my protagonists need to undergo and how can setting help facilitate such changes? What emotions do I want to evoke in the reader? And what settings for most conducive to those emotions. For example, if you are trying to instigate terror within your reader, you wouldn't pick some sunny serene environment. What directions does my plots need to travel? And how can setting assist in making these plots transitions? For example, there are quite a few vampire books that take place in a town where the sun either doesn't rise or has its light blocked out by dense clouds. Such as setting provides the means for the vampires to be outside. But you can have the sun come out if you require setting to redirect your plot, asking questions will raise new answers, which will in turn lead to new questions. And from this process, you can usually create settings that are ideal for your book. Emotion, mood, feelings, often generated by atmosphere. This is a vital element to keep in mind when crafting setting. When contemplating setting, you should ask yourself, what do you want your characters to feel? What do you want your readers to feel? What feelings are aligned with your plot? Use the answers to these questions to generate an atmosphere that is aligned with your goals. For example, the setting of an active city setting generates a different atmosphere. That alone cabin placed on the top of a mountain. You can use setting contradiction to give emphasis to an emotional point. And this advice pertains more to scene structure than a general outline. For example, a boy is so sad from some loss that a setting of a measurable beauty does nothing to alleviate his pain. The sorrow is thus portrayed as being tremendous. I'm going to delve a little deeper into using setting for characterization due to its high level of importance. Please remember that most stories are essentially about character transformation. Who your protagonist is at the beginning of the story, is different with how your protagonist is at the end. This difference doesn't necessarily need to be drastic. But if your characters don't change, they are called static characters. And static characters are boring characters. So given that your protagonist's must change, I suggest that you consider using setting as a means of motivating change. Consider showing how your protagonist behaves and perceives themselves in one setting compared to a different setting. This contrasting method is used in many different books to not only reveal a character's growth, but also the range of their personality. And example of this is seeing Harry Potter interact with the Muggle world and then the wizard ing world. Again, the best way to figure out how to use setting in such a fashion is to proceed with the question answer, process. 4. Setting - part 2: How do you want the reader to perceive the protagonist at the various stages of development? How can setting give rise or provide emphasis to such perceptions? What are my protagonists, strengths and weaknesses? How can setting make your protagonist's assets and flaws recognizable to the reader? What is your protagonist afraid of? How can setting reveal this fear? What does your protagonist want? What is your settings involvement with such desire? I find that it helps to begin by thinking in extremes when it comes to crafting setting. What is the most powerful setting to convey an intended message? I'll consider a hospital intensive care ward. If I'm trying to evoke the sense of human connection, I'll consider the top of an active volcano. If I'm trying to evoke the sense of ever-present danger, then I work backwards from these extremes to find a setting more aligned with my story. By beginning with extremes, you crystallize your intentions into your mind. And when it comes to writing, having clarity will help you from getting stuck. It has been established that setting is important. Now I have to throw a monkey wrench into that understanding. Relatively speaking, you don't want to spend too much time on setting. This feels like a contradiction. I know. You see, a story is not a travel guide. It isn't a history lesson into some once real place. Think of it this way. The colors of red, green, and blue are akin to plot, setting and character. The colors red, green, and blue, can be mixed and matched in ways to create all practical colors. Every movie meets our eyes because of these three colors. Too much green though, too much setting. In other words, and the less visually appealing the movie becomes, you must use that three colors properly so that none of the three dominates the show. The catch with this analogy is that setting is a concentrated color where a little bit goes a long way. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've gotten lost and crafting pages upon pages of setting descriptions. Then I finally catch myself and then have to endure the painful experience of deleting authors beloved words. I'm trying to spare you that feeling by repeating the point that while setting is fun to write, you can have too much of a good thing. Now I'm going to get into the fundamentals of how to actually write setting. The problem of teaching this aspect of setting is that the specifics of how you write setting largely depends upon your narrative stance. Writing setting and first-person will appear differently than setting written in third person. In third person, more often than not, setting is a component of storytelling that you want to inconspicuously slide in. It isn't usually the case that you description of setting should take the form of long passages consisting of paragraphs or pages. What you tend to want to do is to insert descriptions of setting in between and within sentences that are about other aspects of the story. For example, she said as she continued to climb the museum's spiral staircase. How you write setting in first-person sort of depends on your speakers personality or psychology, what the speaker takes notice of, and how that speaker takes notice of that thing, reveals a great deal about that person. You see in such a perspective, what a reader sees usually resembles what a flashlight can show, as opposed to wet daylight can tell. In such a stance, you are freer to write rather long passages dedicated to setting. Although it shouldn't be your intention to have setting demand your reader's attention for too long at one time. Something to keep in mind is that in all of the narrative stances, passages about setting can be used as a pacing tool. The more descriptions you give in regard to the setting, the slower the paste becomes. Sometimes you will find yourself in a place in the story where a slow pace is exactly what you want, during which time you have more freedom to indulge in writing setting. Keep in mind though, that in such cases, your goal is to slow the stories momentum down, not to bring it to a stop. So again, don't write too much more than is necessary when determining how to write setting, you should begin by becoming clear on your goals. Every time a protagonist enters a new setting, enough information should be given for the reader to become oriented to their surroundings. This can be done through quick blanket statements, such as they are in the woods or involve more elaborate sections. Or the woods are described according to their denseness and how leaves and limbs block out the sunlight or Moonlight. Before determining how much you need to write for your setting, you need to first ask yourself, what is it that setting can add to your story? And included in this answer needs to be the understanding. The more words you use for setting, the slower the stories momentum becomes. And again, sometimes slowing down the stories momentum is exactly what you want to do. To elaborate further on how to write setting, I shouldn't mention the use of adjectives and comparison language. Adjectives and adverbs are words that add nuances and dimensions to nouns and verbs. Such tools can be enormously beneficial when striving to capture the nuances of a particular action or thing. The problem is that their use is addictive to the writer and to overuse them will actually hurt your writing. That said, when you find yourself in a situation where you are trying to make the reader experienced a setting in great detail. You should feel more inclined to use a bunch of adjectives along these lines. Always remember that setting is not just a visual thing. You can and should. Use smell, taste, touch, sound, and even feelings to shape your characters environment. You don't need to use all of those senses at one time. But the more you use the various senses, the more dynamic and immersive your story becomes. Something interesting about human psychology is that we are particularly good at using similes and metaphors as a way to give and gain clarity about difficult or complex concepts. As with the use of adverbs and adjectives, you don't want to overuse similes and metaphors, but do understand that these tools can quickly add volumes to your story. For example, how well do you understand this character? If I tell you he had a black heart or if I tell you he had a heart of gold, you can use those relatively few words to gain a rather comprehensive understanding of the type of person we're dealing with. It doesn't matter if your setting is real or fictional. When it comes to writing setting, it all begins with your imagination. Some people visualize better with their eyes closed, others with their eyes open. Find out which way allows you to better tap into your imagination. And then envisioned the scene you are currently working on. What do you see? How are the characters interacting with their environment? And how is their environment manipulating their actions? Although it helps, you don't actually need to see this in your mind's eye. But before you say you can't use your imagination to see things. Let me first ask you a question. Side of your refrigerator door, is the handle on is it a right-handed door or left-handed door? Almost everyone who answers this question must first pull up an image in their head of their refrigerator. And if you can do this, you can use your imagination to see other things, things that aren't even real. If you can do this, then all you need to do is see the setting in your mind's eye and bring what you see to the page in his fluidly, concisely and is interestingly, as you can manage, the more important the setting is to the scene, the more you can write about what you see in your mind's eye. Enclosing. It must be said that before you write your setting, you need to understand the rules of your world. You're setting must conform to the rules of your world. And your plot and characters must conform to your setting. For example, if your story involves life on a space station where the inhabitants move around in a zero-gravity environment. You can't introduce setting details that only make sense in a gravitational environment. And along these lines, your character's actions should correspond with the rules you're setting provides. In this space station example, you can't have your characters literally running from one side of the station to the other. 5. Dialogue Craft - part 1: In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing dialogue. Many writers agree that dialogue is the most difficult thing to teach in writing fiction. So while everything taught here is based on what I've learned in graduate school, personal experience, studying the work of masters, and from reading Minecraft books. I still feel obligated to say that the craft of dialogue is more of an art than a science. In the end, you're going to need to rely on your own judgment on how to use dialogue. The first thing that needs to be said about writing dialogue is that dialogue and fiction, and dialogue and real life need to be perceived as being mostly separate from one another. There are some exceptions to this. For example, in real life, we do not repeat a person's name during a conversation. How are you, Mike? I'm fine. Tom. Hey, John, are you coming over tonight? Yes, Mike. I'll see you at eight. I'll bring the pizza. I like pepperoni Tom. Okay, from a writer's perspective, such writing drastically simplifies the creation process. The reader knows who is speaking at all times, and so you can avoid the use of dialogue tags. However, such a conversation would never happen in the real world. And dusty inclusion of names and the dialogue throws the reader out of the story. You might be able to get by with it a little, but I wouldn't recommend using it more than once or twice in an entire book. So there are exceptions to the need to avoid real-world speak. But on the whole, your fictional dialogue is distinct from real-world dialogue. If you go to a busy public space, you'll likely overhear conversations that usually do not belong in literature. In such eavesdropping, you'll likely hear pointless conversations and perfect grammar, broken sentences, rambling, rapid switching between topics and talking over each other. Such conversations are normal in the real world. But dialogue like this can kill your book. Sea. Dialogue is arguably the one thing that can single-handedly make a bad book Good. Everything in your book is awful, but your dialogue is excellent. Then you have a good book. Think of a screenplay, for example. Much of what makes a screenplay successful is excellent dialogue. Which, by the way, if you want to study the craft of dialogue at a deeper level, I recommend avoiding studying novel writing craft books, and instead steady screenwriting craft books. Because television and movie scripts have attached pressures that novels do not. Every manuscript page is roughly five minutes of film time. Five minutes of film time can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and money aside, that television show and a movie have strict time constraints. Every word has a very real cost. And because of that very real pressure, extreme care is taken with every word. Because of this real cost. You rarely see successful screenwriters composed dialogue that mimics real-world speak. As a novel writer, you have the space to use as many words as you want. But just because you can doesn't mean that you should. As a novelist, you need to put as much care into your dialogue as a screenwriter does. I admit Teaching Dialogue is frustrating for me as an instructor because it's pretty much to unique and abstract a subject to teach. And yet it's too vital to a story to overlook. So I suppose we should just start at the beginning. Why use dialogue? First? Let's start with something confusing. It's probably obvious to you that dialogue is the speech that occurs within the quotation marks. Well, even that isn't entirely accurate because there are dialogue tags that are technically associated with dialogue. Tags are the, he whispered, she yelled, he said, she said that typically immediately follow what a character just spoke. Okay? Dialogue is important to your story for many reasons. Obviously, it is a vehicle for revealing character, moving the plot forward and offering information and description. And I'm going to explore these matters later. But another less obvious reason that dialogue is vital to your story is related to pacing. Dialog offers a sense of immediacy. The reader is present in the story when dialogue takes place. Unlike exposition, which offers a timeless quality, quoted speech is happening there in that moment. In other words, it offers a, you are there in the moment sensation to the reader. Also, somehow, Many people have subconsciously adopted the idea that the most important parts of the story occur within dialog. This means that a reader is less inclined to put your book down while reading dialog. Dialogue is arguably the most captivating part of fiction. Secondly, dialogue looks less daunting on that page than a thick paragraph of narrative. Dialogue creates extra white space on the page because of its formatting logistics, you create a new paragraph every time there's a new speaker. Such spacing results in a lot of white space on the page. Whitespace helps by not only increasing the stories pace, by allowing your audience to read more quickly. It's also in fighting to the reader's eye, especially compared to the pages filled with dense text. Oftentimes readers will flip through a book in a bookstore to see how much dialogue there is. The reader may not know this is what they are looking for. But evidence shows that books with noticeable quantities of dialogue sell better than books that have far less. For example, next time you're at an airport bookstore, peruse the fiction section and you'll see exactly what I'm saying. A story can be said to be composed of three different interconnected elements. These are plot, setting and characterization. Dialogue can be used to illuminate all three. You can have your characters described their physical location within their discussions. For example, this is done in The Lord of the Rings series, where the characters mentioned the dire terrain that lays ahead or talk about their current environment, dialogue and helped draft the plot. This has done a great deal in mystery stories, where characters tell stories to the detective from which new clues arise. Ultimately though, your first priority with dialogue is to develop and reinforce characterization. A great deal is revealed about a character just through the way that character talks. What a character speaks. We'll demonstrate mentality. Mood, status, disposition, focus, intelligence, and more and better still. Dialogue is a showing tactic. And revealing character via showing is almost always better than telling because it's not only more believable for the reader, it's also more engaging. Say for example, I write that Jack is a shrewd businessman. That sentence is quick and clear, but there's nothing there to engage with. Now consider i write a paragraph or two showing Jack being accrual and selfish person. For example, an exchange written in dialogue where one of Jack's employees need to take some time off to attend to as terminal father. And Jack replies, it better not take long because he's expected back at work. This ladder example is better because it allows the reader to discover Jack's character. Also. And this ladder example, the reader doesn't just learn about Jack, but also about the employee as well. If you were to write this scene, they employee and Jack would use language in their dialogue that is distinct from one another. It is this difference that reveals character. The employee may be wordy, tripping and fumbling over his subservient words. And check may listen to all of that and reply with a short sentence. Your expected back here in three days. Okay. It looks like I might have to digress here to better make this point. Being a writer of fiction means that you're willing to step into another person's shoes. Truth be told. I personally believe that it means being willing to temporarily become another person. In other words, the more empathetic a person you are, the better you will naturally be at writing dialogue. See, writing dialogue is different from writing narrative. Writing dialogue well involves the writer stepping into the speaker's shoes. For example, watch some behind the scenes footage of actors and actresses preparing themselves for a scene. They usually perform some ritual to shed their personal identity and become the character. Honestly, this aspect of writing can actually be a bit uncomfortable, especially if it's new to you. But that's largely why the movie stars earn those millions. And in my opinion, this is an important step to writing truly excellent dialogue. You might be thinking, this will make writing a story take forever. Well, yes, in part, it's certainly slows down the process. But for lack of a better word, something magical happens after you've practiced this for awhile. Not only will you be able to switch character perspectives in mere seconds, you'll find that these internalized fictional characters will help you write your book. Indeed, many authors discovered themselves having to redo their story outlines after they've internalized their characters. Because after internalizing these characters, these characters show the authors a new and better way towards their stories conclusion, I understand that this may sound like insanity, and maybe it is, but no one really knows for certain where ideas come from. And somehow some way, temporarily becoming your characters will produce more ideas than you originally thought possible. I suspect this is because it forces you to consider perspectives and paradigms that you wouldn't have considered before. Something akin to the two heads are better than one argument. And this all begins with a seemingly insane process of trying to hear a character's voice in your head. I hope that digression helped you understand my original point. If you were to step into Jack shoes prior to writing his dialogue, you'd realize he was too selfish and cold-hearted to engage his employee on a personal level. The employee spoke of paragraph, but Jack was too focused on his priorities to speak a paragraph back. Instead, he offers a brief sentence, you're expected back here in three days. And in those seven words, the reader learns that Jack isn't some demon that will prevent Jack from saying his farewells. But he isn't a good guy either, because every decent person knows that three days is nowhere near along enough. And this builds. As a writer, the more you step into Jack shoes, the more you come to understand his point of view as a CEO, he can't just allow everyone to take the time off that they'd want or need. He employs dozens of people and his business is only as good as his worker base. If he's too kind, then he believes that his company will fail and all those people that did nothing wrong will be out of work. But you can't see this perspective while associated with the employee's point of view. You have to shift perspectives to at least make sense of the cruel and selfish persona that Jack reveals to the world. Again, writing dialogue is difficult, but the more pressure you put on yourself to do it correctly, the easier it will get over time. Again, think of the actress she trained as she trained. She may have even been booed off stage on more than one occasion and didn't get all those parts she auditioned for. But she continued to train in her craft. Eventually she landed apart, proved herself capable, and now she's a rich actress that is so practised into stepping into other character shoes that her biggest trouble is memorizing the lines. Hmm, maybe the Bruce Lee quote is best here. I fear not the man who has practiced 10 thousand kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10 thousand times, you're likely going to write a novel after you finish this course. And those thousands of words are going to provide you with the opportunity to do a lot of practice the art or you practice good writing, the easier it will get over time. Ultimately, the point is to say that your dialog needs to appear as if the character spoken, not that you, the author wrote it. This is best done by performing two tasks. First, determined who your character is. Like really. Who is this person standing naked and alone in a dark room? Then determine what this character is short and long-term desires, our personality and motivation. It's often as simple as that. Now I'm going to get into the list of things to avoid when writing dialog. And important item to a list right now is to be careful when trying to reveal dialects, accents, or ignorance when writing dialogue. It's okay to use phonetic spelling and non-standard English from time to time. But your goal is to use it just enough to relay the intended message to the reader. While at the same time avoiding making the dialogue difficult to read, throwing him bad sentence structure here and there is fine, even advisable. But doing that so often that the reader has to stop to figure out what is being said will interrupt the readers immersion in the story. And that's something you don't want. Another item to List is to keep your genre and audience in mind. And many genres, it's okay to have vulgar language and otherwise abrasive speech. But not all audiences are willing to read such talk. In other words, identify your audience and your chosen genres, conventions before you send your final draft to print another item on that try to avoid list is to be subtle when using dialogue to convey setting. This is tricky to explain. When you use dialogue to provide setting descriptions, you should do your best to make those descriptions as unobtrusive as possible. In other words, setting descriptions should seem to be perfectly aligned with what is occurring right there. And then in the story, when you write setting descriptions on the outside of quotation marks, you can be blunt and vivid in your descriptions. But setting descriptions that occur within quotation marks shouldn't feel to the reader like you are describing the setting. Hmm. Maybe an example will help to better articulate what I'm struggling to say. Think of this scene from Harry Potter when Hermione first walks into the great hall and she says, it's not real. The ceiling is just bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in Hogwarts, a history. This dialogue is about setting, but it feels fitting because it is directly related to the stories, current action. They aren't just sitting at a table and talking to each other about their new and bizarre surroundings. One thing is picked to mention, just enough is said to portray the magical nature of the new environment. Again, dialogue is tricky. You want your story to feel like real life dialogue. Feel like real-life dialogue. But to accomplish this feeling while actually avoiding most of the real life dialogue conventions. Put another way. A line of dialogue should never feel like it exists solely for the readers benefit. The dialog needs to always feel native to the story. Putting setting into a story via dialog, if done incorrectly, will often feel as if it was put there just for the readers benefit. C, remember that dialogue is its own animal of sorts. Readers expect setting descriptions and indeed all types of descriptions to take place in the narrative. It's in the narrative that you are free to portray your authorial voice. But in dialogue, the reader expects to hear only the character's voice, which is another reason why I chose this Hermione example. Her statement about the setting is perfectly aligned with who she is as a character. Think about the words I read about it in Hogwarts, a history. This quote reinforces the characterization that Hermione is an intelligent bookworm. Most of the time you want to put setting in the narrative channels because you are, for the most part free to write it as u Dean Best. But when you put setting in quotation marks, it not only needs to be said in that character's voice, it also needs to be immediately relevant to the current action in the story. It's very effective if done well. Like Gimli from The Lord of the Rings, angrily and disgusted manner complaining about the difficult setting to fellowship must pass through to reach Mordor, take care to scrutinize your inclusion of setting in your dialogue on your second draft. 6. Dialogue Craft - part 2: A way that dialogue can be helpful in creating setting is to give voice to tertiary characters that exist for the single reason of creating setting. Would you like to buy some fish, miss it straight from the sea it is. Whose fishes? Rotten wood you want or more fresh bananas from urine vehicle woof, perfectly right. Here, you use dialogue to show that the heroin is at a food market. The next item on the list is to avoid lectures and interviews. Long lines of dialogue. More often than not interrupt a story's momentum. Paragraphs have dialogue also loses the feeling of being dialogue. If feels near to the reader to be an information dump. And you usually want to avoid information dumps. Information dumps occur when you, as a writer, find yourself needing to deliver a large quantity of information to the reader to make your story work. And you deliver the majority of this information in one fell swoop. So for this reason, you also want to avoid dialogue that feels too much like an interview, where one character asks a character direct questions for the sole purpose of delivering information to the reader. You usually want to pursue dialogue that involves giving and taking from each of the characters. Interviews don't operate this way, and such dialogue will interrupt your stories momentum. Instead, you want to identify ahead of time what information needs to be relayed to the reader and deliver that information piecemeal through conversational means. Conversational means, of course, meaning a back and forth that reveals a genuine consideration and reaction to what the other character just said. As opposed to the real-life equivalent of waiting for your chance to speak. Also, consider contemplating ways other than dialog to deliver at least some of that large quantity of information. The more you break it up, the more natural it sounds. A word of caution though. You don't want to break the information dump up so much that you're storied doubles and length. Putting this a different way, you don't want to be wordy for the sake of being wordy, just to avoid information dumps. Admittedly, this is a tricky balance. Really though. If you find a page that delivers too much information, just try to spread that information over three to five pages instead. Or scrutinize that information and determine what part of that information dump is absolutely necessary, and then cut the rest. But I digress. The next item on the avoiding your dialogue list is to be selective about what you include in your dialogue. Hopefully you've already gotten this point, but I think it deserves reiterating. Don't mimic real life conversation. In real life we engage in something called Smalltalk, idle chit chat that breaks uncomfortable silence. In almost all cases, such dialogue has no place in your novel. In real life, we frequently talk about the weather. Don't talk about the weather unless it's relevant to your story. Along these lines, you need to avoid talking about everything. And a lot of ways. Writing dialogue is a distillation process where what you write has the fluff removed. Of course, you can have fluff in your dialogue, but such inclusion needs to be intentional. Meaning that you can justify the largely meaningless words because it's somehow accomplishes characterization. For example, have your character talk about the weather. But in this talk, reveal how he did test getting rained on. And this hatred helps to reveal the type of person he is. The point is that nowhere in your novel Are you trying to just fill space for the purpose of word count or whatever? And this is especially true with dialogue. The next item on the list is to not use dialogue in the place of action. In almost every case, it's better to describe action to the narrative than to have some character Talk about it. This is worth mentioning because of the immediate and immersive nature of dialogue. Many authors are tempted to try to enhance action scenes by using the immediate in-the-moment feelings that dialogue provides. This is a mistake because it's the wrong tool to be used in most cases. Depending on your narrative point of view, it's usually better to describe action and third-person narrative. This allows you to articulate important elements in far more descriptive and immersive ways. For example, oh no, jack looked over at Sarah and then back at the flaming projectile hurling towards them. We're about to be hit by a missile. Instead of that, you can write a paragraph about the missile cutting across the terrain as it closes in on its target. Such an approach may require more words to describe, but using narrative instead of dialogue will likely feel more real. The next item on the list is to avoid overcrowding a conversation whenever possible. The ideal quantity of characters to engage in dialog is two. This is because you barely need dialogue tags for the reader to know who's talking. The more characters you have engaged in a conversation, the more stress is put on the reader to follow who is saying what? A technique to get around this is to start with a chronic conversation when the plot mandates, I then have the two or three characters go to some physical place just out of earshot of the crowd. For example, say you have characters at a party. When you want to get to the meaningful dialogue, half the two or three characters step out on the balcony. The next item on the list is a tricky one. Don't convey information to the reader through characters talking about something that those characters already know. As a writer, you're challenged to give important information to your readers. And sometimes the only way to do this is through dialogue. It's easy to back yourself into a corner where you have to write something like just in case you forgot, if you push the red button to ship blows up. Don't push the red button. In other words, it's obvious to the reader when you're knowledgeable characters repeat something that they already know just for the readers benefit. Now I say this is tricky because sometimes there's no way around it. If you find that you've done this in your writing, tried to diminish its visibility as much as you can by weaving that point in the conversation into other aspects of the conversation. For example, just don't do what you did to our old ship. Okay? What do you mean this ship also has a red button. I won't save you this time if you push it again. Just a quick example. The point is to downplay the obviousness of you trying to relay important information through fully aware characters talking about it. Alarm bells should sound in your head if you read quotes like, let's go over this again. As we all know. Do you remember just in case you forgot? Ok, you get the gist. The next item on the list is to avoid using words that imitate the natural sounds of something. Unless you are writing a children's book, it's usually best practice to just write the English summary word. See, you want to make the reader do as little work as possible. When you use automotive pieces, you force the reader to break state and try to make sense of that unknown jumble of letters. It's tempting for a writer to use them. They are fun to use. Most genre conventions usually frown upon their use. The next item on the list is to be cautious when using slaying foreign words or contemporary catchphrases. Using this type of language will almost certainly alienate a portion of your audience. And much of this type of dialogue is dated, meaning that in five to ten years, these time sensitive words won't be understood. Now, this isn't to say that you can't use slang or catchphrases that are established and defined in your story. May the force be with you? This is a phrase that is so defined in the story that any audience can understand it even across all timeframes. The next item on the list is to avoid arguments. By arguments, I mean rage filled dialogue that characters engaging with the single goal of winning the argument. This is distinct from a debate where characters take turns hearing, encountering the other characters case. The point here is to emphasize a common problem that many new writers have. Many new riders understand that their story requires conflict and they naturally assume that an argument is an appropriate form of conflict. It isn't. Conflict is a force that instigates plot movement and character development. When analyzed from a macro perspective, it's clear to see that an argument is almost always pointless in terms of plot movement and character development. Such an approach also commonly results in a cliche story structure called the big MIS, also known as the big misunderstanding. This occurs when two or more characters go through a whole story fuming over an issue that ultimately could have been solved with a calm adult conversation. Feel free to have disagreements. Feel free to have debates, but don't have people shouting at each other, just to shout at each other. Unless you have some specific reason for it. Like you are trying to establish a character as being a rage filled alcoholic or something. The next item on the list is to avoid having your dialogue clash with your scene. This should already be straightforward for you. Obviously, if your characters are engaged in heavy action, like in a dangerous car chase scene, they aren't going to participate in paragraph long conversations. Now. Rather they are going to be speaking in short quick bursts. Conversely, the characters are alone in some slow serene scene. The aren't going to be communicating and short quick bursts. Pretty simple. Just make sure your dialogue matches up well with the scene within which the dialogue takes place. The next item on the list is always avoid having non tertiary characters speak without introduction. You don't need to introduce tertiary characters because if done correctly, they're dialogue and forms who they are. Can I get you another cup of coffee, deer or marginals and registration, sir? Or can you spare some change? For example, everyone else needs to be introduced before they speak. An introduction prevents the reader from getting disoriented. And remember, a confused reader breaks the readers engagement with your story. You only need a quick line to introduce a new character. You don't need to overthink it. Chin up Mary, the mayor is coming over, for example. So when the next line of dialogue is formal aristocratic speak, the reader will comfortably know that now the Maoris talking. This brings us to one of the last points. Make sure your speech matches your character. Another obvious one, without getting lost and confusing nuanced language. Have your children speak like children, your elderly speakers? They would the uneducated speak is they would, and professors speak as they would. Now, a word of caution. What you write needs to be easily coherent to the reader. Don't make the child's language so nuanced that it breaks the reader State. Consider short sentences with a slight misuse of syntax, or words being out-of-order. An unimportant word dropped here and there. Don't mess with spelling the words incorrectly. Conversely, don't make your educated character is used $10 words. Actually, never use words that a reader would need a dictionary for. Unless you're willing to risk the reader putting down your book and looking up your word. Just have your educated characters useful all this language that is clear, concise, well-structured, and direct dialogue is another tool in the writer's tool chest. It's there for you to generate movement in your story. Your dialogue isn't there to be some pretty thing in your story. Some marble statue in your foyer just to impress your guests. Dialogue is a tool and you use this tool to make a point. That point can be anything to describe a character, to move the plot forward, to help portray us setting. If you can justify the dialogues use, then it's fine. Remember, when it comes to writing, in most cases, less is often more. And this cliche may seem contradictory to the earlier statement that books without dialogue don't sell well, think of it this way. Imagine having to pick from two baskets filled with diamonds to take home with you. One of the baskets is heavier than the other because it is filled to the brim with uncut diamonds. The other basket has far less, but that lighter basket is the one you will choose. This is because the lighter basket is full of diamonds carefully cut smaller so as to capture and magnify the surrounding light. This basket is less than weight, but it's greater in value because deliberate care was put into them. Such as your dialogue. Here I am offering all these rules and guidelines to writing dialogue. But ultimately, dialogue more closely resembles art than it does a science. When writing dialogue, don't just use your head. Use your heart as well. How did those spoken words feel to you? They might affectively get the intended point across. But did those spoken words convey the emotion you are after? I like to compare writing dialogue to composing music. There are rules. Indeed a very science to music, but no one can just follow the musical rules to create music that can reach inside and touch you from within. Just like music, you know, when dialogue is working, when dialogue is wrong, a Hertz the ear, like a misplaced note in a would-be touching song. This isn't just an analogy. Actually stop and listen to your dialogue. Read it out loud in your character's voice. How does it sound to you? Allow the sound to be your guide? And remember, even in the most beautiful songs can exhaust the ear if they go on for too long. In my mind, the best songs are those that have an agenda. They aren't there to relay pretty music, but to convey a message that hits you right at home, your dialog needs such an agenda. In closing, I need to say that dialogue seems to me to be a field all unto itself. For example, one approach is writing a short story differently than writing a novel. One approach is writing a novel differently than writing a poem. One approaches writing a poem differently than running a song. Do you see what I'm getting at? You can find dialog in poetry, lyrics, short stories, and novels. But just because dialogue is integrated into these literary techniques does not make it the same. When you write a poem, you put your poet had on, so to speak. When you sit down to write your novel, you put your novelist hat on. What I'm saying is that when writing your novel, you need to have another head available just for writing dialogue. Dialogue is integrated, but it's different. It's not just what said. It's also how it said. It's not just what is said. It's also what isn't said. It's not just what is said, but it's also who said it. It's not just what is said. It's also what words were used to say it. It's not just what is said, but also where it was said, and so on and so forth. I'm not going to lie to you. Writing dialogue well is difficult. The only way to get excellent at it is to study it, practice writing it, and then ask your colleagues to give you their opinion. If you are not into reading, then I recommend watching movies that were successful prior to the age of computer graphics. These movies didn't have special effects to hide behind, like today's movies, do they had to make it on their own merit? Don't watch these movies to be entertained. Watch them as a student. Paying careful attention to the dialogue. 7. Point of View - dialogue: In this lecture, I'm going to discuss point-of-view. This section can be a little confusing because the term point of view can be used in two different ways. There's point of view in terms of the character's perspective within the story. And there's point of view in terms of narrative stands. Point-of-view or POV, in terms of narrative technique, has to do with the manner in which the story as a whole is written. There are different ways that a story can be told in regards to narrative stance, There's first-person singular. This occurs when the story is written through the use of the pronoun I. This is an intimate approach that reads as if the narrator is speaking directly to the reader. However, it can be problematic because the story is restricted to the speaker's point of view. Meaning that you can't write something that the speaker doesn't know. Then there's first-person plural. This stance occurs through the use of the word we. These stories are typically written on the behalf of a community. Also, this is more commonly used in short stories rather than in novels. It has the same pros and cons as first-person singular. Then there's second-person. This one is characterized by the use of the word you. This one takes a lot of practice to master and mostly appears in short stories. Then there's third person limited. This one is characterized through the use of the words he and she, and the use of the characters names. This version of third-person is tied to only the character's perspective. Think of it as the narrator being chained to one character at a time. The narrator can know what is going on in this character's mind, but no one else is. This technique can offer the same level of intimacy as the first-person singular. Third person, you are free to sit on a different character shoulder with each new chapter. Provided that you make it painfully obvious at the start of the chapter, whose perspective the reader is now following. Many writers, such as George RR Martin, the author of The Game of Thrones, titles his chapters with the name of the character who the narrator will be changed to. Then there's third person omniscient. This type also uses he and she and the characters names. This perspective is the all-seeing, all-knowing narrative technique. This narrative can explore the thoughts of all the characters and know everything that is happening in the story world. This narrative technique does not naturally provide the same level of intimacy as some of the others, but it allows the use of more of the writer's tools discussed in this course. The writer is permitted a great deal of freedom with this narrative technique. However, I suggest that you restrict yourself when using this narrative technique, even though you don't technically have to. For example, it is easy to loose the reader if you do what is known as head hop, or show the thoughts of different characters inside the same chapter, or provide too much storyworld information. Remember the less is more argument. It's important to understand that once you choose a narrative stance, you must maintain that choice throughout the entirety of your story. Alright, so that's point of view from the macro perspective. Then there's the micro one, the one that pertains to how to use point of view as it directly relates to the character. Say that you are writing a story that involves the developing relationship between Jack and Sarah. Properly used. Point-of-view allows you to capture important and intriguing details that would otherwise be missed. I'm going to teach this from the third-person point of view narrative technique because that is the norm. However, after some slight tinkering based teaching still relate to the other narrative stances. Alright, so in your story, Jack and Sarah are having a debate about whatever. If the reader had only the dialogue to go off of, the reader will get the distinct impression that Sarah hates Jack. However, sharing Sarah's point of view with the reader allows the reader to see Sarah's thoughts and how every main thing she says to Jack is hurting her. She feels like she has to defend herself, but she really wants to make peace with Jack because she's secretly enjoys his company. But if she surrenders, then she feels like she's lost and she's too competitive to surrender. In the next chapter, the reader is following Jack's point of view. And this time the two are trying to solve some urgent problem. But because you have access to his thoughts, you see that he's struggling to focus on the problem because all of his attention is on his attraction to Sarah. I'm going to go deeper into this, but I'm hoping you are getting my point. On this surface, Jack and Sara can't stand each other, but the reader sees that they secretly longed to be with each other. But something is keeping them from admitting their feelings to each other. You can use point of view to enhance your scenes and story in a variety of other ways. You can reveal someone to be a liar. You can reveal characters, mood, mentality, disposition, motivation, fears, and even use p of v to garner sympathy, empathy, or hatred from the reader. For example, you can use point of view to delve deeper into intimate scenes by giving description to a love scene, do the revelations of a character's innermost thoughts and feelings. Point-of-view is especially important for character stories because it makes it easy for you as a writer to keep the focus on the characters in her life. Your story might have this, that, and the other thing happening out in the external world. And this, that, and the other thing must be dealt with for the story to proceed. But point-of-view allows you to interject a character's thoughts and perspectives that have nothing to do with this, that, or the other thing, and are solely related to the intimate aspects of the character story. In other words, a character story often entails two stories. A depiction of the characters in her life and the outer life. These two worlds are both separate and connected, much as it is for us in the real-world. Point-of-view provides you with the means to bring this reality into your story. You can use point of view to give emphasis to a certain point. For example, if you have Jack and Sarah in a discussion, you can show Jack thinking, please don't ask me about the red car. Then they talk some more and eat things again. Please don't ask me about the red car. And he keeps thinking this. The reader will catch on that there's something significant about the red car. When crafting your story outline, you should include information that is particularly relevant to the character whose perspective you're writing from. Obviously different main characters are going to approach life differently. And your writing should reflect to this. When determining who your POV character is going to be. First consider who has the most at stake with this chapter's events. You usually want to pick the perspective that naturally creates more drama. Remember, point-of-view gives you the tools necessary to communicate information to the reader, while at the same time keeping that information secret from the other characters. In closing, I need to warn you that you will often be deceived into thinking that because you have put a character's perspective on the page, that you have adequately integrated that necessary information into the story. Keep in mind that an important part of the reader's experience with the story is to see the actual action. Put another way, showing that the two characters are secretly in love with one another is one thing. But having them openly confront their feelings for each other is something else entirely. 8. Character Growth : An important element in writing fiction is to establish character development. And a fundamental part of character development is character growth. Character development revolves around the point that how the main characters perceive themselves in the beginning needs to be different than how those characters see themselves at the end of the story. These aspects of character development can be accomplished in a variety of ways. One good way is by making your character evolve while confronting discomfort. In other words, you can use conflict to essentially force character growth. You can also use setting as a means of establishing character growth. Examples of this occur in The Lord of the Rings of series, when the travelers are forced to perceive themselves differently due to the new stresses that their changing environment inflicts upon them. You can also use setting to illuminate your characters flaws to the reader. For example, and outdoorsy man who can navigate to the wilderness without a compass, easily live off. The land, will appear to be a person incapable of getting lost. But put that same man in the middle of a major city in all of his navigational skills count for nothing. Think of Crocodile Dundee as an example, where Nick Dundee grows as a character as he moves from adapting to and then thriving in a large city setting, the audience falls in love with Dundee while seeing him undergo this transformation process undergone by an Outback native that had never even flown in a plane before. Now, in a romance novel, character growth needs to at least in part, be assisted by the other lead character. Common sense may push you to think that your hero character should be perfect in every way. But if he's perfect in every way, then why would he need the heroin to fulfill his happily ever after? The story of Beauty and the Beast is a tale that I recommend you closely analyze. There are numerous components in this story that are relevant to a successful romance. One of these components is the element of the heroine taming the hero. You'll see this theme again and again with successful romances. The aforementioned Crocodile Dundee is yet another example of the unattainable being tamed by the only person in the world that could the heroin. Remember, no one is perfect. So don't make your lead characters perfect. A perfect hero and heroine will create a flat story. And just a few more things to say in closing. First, remember that you need to make your hero and heroine likable. It's a common tendency among early writers to show these characters in a negative light. You don't need to make them look like angels or anything to that extreme. Just remember that in the beginning of the book, when the reader is just discovering the hero and heroine, they need to like them. So if you make them do negative things, like sweared, apparent, or hurt someone, make sure you've already provided an understandable reason as to why they are behaving in such a way. Secondly, and along these lines, really understand that your characters cannot be perfect. It's important for them to have flaws. But in the beginning of the story, when the reader is discovering these characters, you don't want to focus on their flaws to the point that they are unlikeable. Does that make sense? An important part of the beginning is to make your audience get invested in your book. If you make your characters perfect or overly flawed or otherwise unlikeable, your audience will naturally not care so much for these characters. Now, while you need to make your hero flawed and romances, you usually don't want to make your hero excessively flawed because you shouldn't over-complicate to your plot. A simple way to approach this is to first consider the heroine strengths, goals, and what she needs. And a partner. Then moved from here to determine what flaws the hero can have, that the heroin is naturally inclined to be motivated and capable of fixing. Just to be clear though, that change the main characters undergo needs to ultimately be sourced from within themselves. He shouldn't force her to change in a direct way and vice versa. They should inspire and otherwise assist the other in their own personal development, but not to take on the responsibility for the other character's development. All this being said, how flawed you make your characters depends on the storage genre and the anticipated length of your book. If you were writing a non romantic piece where the hero can undergo a ten chapter spiritual rite of passage, journey, and undergo deep transformations and voyages into self-discovery. Then, yeah, sure, you can make the hero deeply flawed. Otherwise, you need to make the flaws manageable, relevant, and ideally directly related to the progression of the romance. The romance genre needs flawed heroes and heroines, but not at the expense of the genres focus. The focus needs to be on the developing romance, not on the characters undergoing radical transformations. In other words, when writing a romance, be sure to find the most direct routes ahead of time. Work backwards. Consider how the hero and heroine are best suited to help each other and from there determine their flaws. Make your hero and heroine imperfect. That make their imperfections and attribute to the story make him weak at something that she is good at and vice versa. This will reinforce the notion that the two are meant for each other. It should also be mentioned that your characters backstories can play a role in shaping that character's flaws. Keep in mind that conflict is typically the best motivator for change. In other words, you can use conflict to force your characters to overcome the demons from their past. This doesn't need to be extreme. A simple example is the final scene from the movie, as good as it gets a screenplay that I recommend you study closely. Prior to this final scene, the hero always refuses to step on any sort of line, whether that be a tiled floor or a crack in the pavement. In this final scene, the heroine says, I don't know what this is, but it isn't going to work. And then, and there, the hero overcomes this habit because he's put so much effort into forging a positive relationship with the heroin that the choice to step on the cracks is both easy for him and believable to the viewer. Please understand that complicated and nuanced backstories require much more storytelling time to resolve. So put some extra effort into determining just how flawed you want your characters to be. And again, make sure that these personal issues are somehow related to the plot. In closing, remember, discomfort is usually the best initiator for Change. Ask yourself, what does the character want? What does the character needed to be capable of living a fulfilling life? What flaws stand in the way of the character achieving this genuinely fulfilling life? If you really want to fully grasp this advice, watched the movie, The ultimate gift with these questions in mind. 9. Character Story Comes First: In this lecture, I'm going to be delving into the character story. Generally speaking, there are four types of stories. These are multi-use stories, ideas, stories, character stories, and event-driven stories. Most stories written today, our character stories. When you were writing a character story, it is especially important to make your characters your primary focus. In this section, we're going to explore how to create a character story. There are literary genres that have some wiggle room when it comes to the stories driving factor. Some genres don't. However, romance genres are always character-driven. Other genres, maybe middle you Idea, Character and event driven. Simply put, a character-driven story is a story where your characters drive the plot. These are stories with a character's inner and outer worlds create the entire tail. Emotions, beliefs, decisions, actions, responses. These are the principal components of a character-driven story. Because character stories are character-driven, It is absolutely vital to create dynamic and strong characters. First, we need to take a look at the difference between showing and telling. These approaches mean exactly what you'd think. They'd mean. For example, I could tell you that John Doe is a nice man that puts others before himself. Or I could show you John performing acts that reveal his niceness and his emphasis on others. As a side note, you have probably heard the saying, show, don't tell. Personally speaking. I think telling gets a bad rap. Storytelling is a dynamic thing and sometimes it is best to sacrifice showing for the sake of pacing. In other words, there's a time and place for everything, including telling. That said. In character stories, it tends to be best practice to show more often than tell. This is because you want your readers to come to know your characters, to formulate their own opinions of them, and to learn the nuances of their personality and other characteristics. You rob the reader of this opportunity. If you just say, Mary Sue is a passionate and short-tempered woman, for example. Oftentimes, the more your reader discovers about the character on their own, the more they come to care about the character. And getting the reader to care about your characters is what a character story is all about. So here's something to consider. And imagine reading a scene where a character named Mike is telling a character named Bethany that quote, I always tell the truth and what you see is what you get. Mike continues with saying that he's a nice guy that loves kids and animals. Then in the next scene is show Mike all alone with a nagging little dog that he soon punts across the room. Now is that an example of showing or telling? This example also reveals another point. You don't want to do what is called an information dump. And you especially don't want to do an information dump when it comes to characterization. Part of the appeal of showing is that you get to reveal qualities about the characters one step at a time. With each new revelation comes another feature that further captivates the reader. Keep in mind that in character stories, the reader wants to learn about the inner world of your characters. Little by little. Take the reader into the inner most sanctum of your character's heart, mind, and soul. The more personal you get, the more interested the reader will become. Provided that you do so without using an information dump. You can do this by writing intimate dialogue or internal monologue or through action. Keep in mind that this revealing dialogue and action does not need to be from the character. You can have parents talking about their son, Mike, or show the action of the dog, quivering and fear when Mike walks into the room. The key to remember is to use the showing technique when revealing your character to your reader and not the telling technique. Something else to remember when creating a character is to put little emphasis on their physical description. Unless there is something about their physicality that contributes to the story. Like a scar across the character's face or person with no ears or a hunchback of Notre DOM type situation. Physical description is overused by amateur writers. You don't need to use it because your reader will create a mental image of your characters no matter how little you describe what they look like. That said, there are some genres that do require physical description. When writing a romance novel, you need to explain why the hero is handsome, but you don't want to describe what the heroine looks like because the heroin is how the reader inserts herself into the story. And if your reader is a redhead and your heroin has black hair, they need diminish the story for the reader. While we're on this topic of nuanced character description, remember to give careful detail to your characters names. You don't want to make their names so obscure that the reader is interrupted every time the name is mentioned. But you do want it to be unusual enough to stand out amongst the other names. Also, you usually want to pick a name that corresponds with your character's personality. After you've done a character sketch, make a list of names, and pick the one that seems to most fit the way the character looks in your mind's eye. Lastly, you need a name that fits the genre and time period. You usually don't want to use a modern name in a historical fiction and vice versa. There are few more things to mention about characters before we move on. Obviously, your main characters are the characters that most need to be characterized. On the whole. It's the main characters whose choices turn the stories direction. Due to their importance. It's okay to get lost here and there in your prose when shaping your main character for the reader. In other words, it's often the case that you want to be as concise and direct as possible in your writing. However, and character stories, it's okay to spend more words than usual in portraying your character so long as you think the purple prose is helping with characterization and otherwise assisting in creating a dynamic character. Now, as a bit of an advanced note, with nearly every rule come exceptions. And this is also true with main character roles. A character is considered a main character. If the story revolves around that character. If the focus is on that character, then that character is a main character. And here's the confusing part. Sometimes that character barely shows up in the story. Examples of this are Godot and Waiting for Godot and Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. These are the characters that the story hinges upon. And yet they never say a word in the story. I'm not telling you this to confuse you, but rather to impress upon you that in writing fiction, you want to master your understanding of the rules so that you know how and when to break them. Okay? Now, there's something that you should know about character stories before you get too carried away with creating a story outline. This course delves deeply into how and why to create a story outline. However, you should know before you get too involved in your outline creation, that many writers of character stories do not spend a great deal of time on their outline. These authors dedicate their time and attention to getting to know their characters ahead of time, and then figure out vague plot points to try to hit these riders, then allow their characters to create the story. Sometimes these characters hit those prearranged plot points. Sometimes they don't. The pros of such a writing style is that your characters will feel incredibly genuine. That con is that your odds of creating a successful story with a concise, unbelievable plot won't be nearly as good as they would be if you decide much beforehand. I recommend the outline. But you should be aware of this alternative approach if you decide that your primary goal is to create incredibly genuine characters, even at the expense of an ideal plot structure. 10. Character Story Strictly Romance Novel Related: There's quite a bit to take into consideration when creating a romantic character-driven story. For this reason, I've included this introductory lecture as a means to help you get your bearings. The material discussed in this section will be explored in greater depth in other lectures. The process of crafting of romance novel often involves contemplating the question, what makes this couple perfect for each other? Answering this question will greatly assist you in the plotting and characterization process by knowing ahead of time how the two complement each other, you can then determine what scenes you need to create that reveal their complementing nature. Put another way by knowing how his strengths, makeup for her weaknesses, and vice versa, you can better create scenes that reveal how they are perfect for each other. The romance novel is a story about two people finding a once in a lifetime type love. This means that your hero and heroine shouldn't feel like they are settling for each other. Romance readers want to navigate the story to discover why this couple is the perfect fit, not why their union is adequate. A way to accomplish this feat is to figure out what qualities the hero and heroine possess that makes them fall in love with each other. Keep in mind that these qualities should be discovered by the hero and heroine as the story progresses. Meaning that in most cases, you shouldn't have a story that involves the theme of love at first sight. A successful tactic for facilitating this gradual discovery of love or the other is to have the hero and heroine coming from two separate worlds. For example, he's rich but sheltered. She's poor, but experienced what he needs to find happiness. She can provide just as what she needs to find happiness he can provide. And these two voids shouldn't necessarily be materialistic in nature. It's better to approach this idea with the notion that one helps the other to perceive themselves in a new and better light. Now, a word of caution, this course spends a great deal of time discussing conflict and proper plotting. However, it is extremely important for you to remember that when crafting a romance novel, you must always make the developing romance The most important element. In other words, if your conflict and plotting interferes or steals the show from the developing romance, then you either need to cut those scenes in your second draft or come to terms with the fact that you are no longer writing a romance novel. Also, in order for your romance story to work, both your hero and heroine need to be ready to fall in love. This isn't to say that the two need to be actively pursuing a relationship. There's really two points to this. One, the romance novel doesn't work if for whatever reason, they are completely closed off to the idea of romance, your readers need to see for themselves that the hero and heroine are at least open to the notion of falling in love. To the romance doesn't work if there's too much going on in the character's life. A story with too much conflict makes the issue of a developing relationship unrealistic. There are sections in this course that delve deeply into the differences between the hero and heroine. But because these elements can make or break your romance, it's worth repeating. You need your hero to reflect masculine energy, and your heroin needs to reflect feminine energy. Now, this may seem obvious, but it's not only essential to get this correct. It's also a lot harder than you would think many romance authors fail miserably in describing the qualities of the opposite sex. As mentioned in another lecture, a common mistake that amateur female writers make is to craft a hero in a way that most women would consider the perfect man to be. The problem is that this perfect hero often comes across as being overly feminine and thus rejected by the reader's unconscious mind. For example. He likes listening to long emotional conversations. He's always supportive and nurturing. He retains his temper and behaves in a way that a perfect female best friend would. That readers will often agree that the hero seems perfect. But the reader's unconscious mind just won't accept a hero as a believable character. I hope you understand this concept. There are two minds. They're always working in the reader's brain. One is the conscious brain. This is the part of the brain that the reader is aware of and can control. Then there's the unconscious mind. I'm using this latter term loosely here. In this case, using the term ancient brain is probably more accurate. This non-conscious part of thought is the product of thousands of years of mammalian evolution and the nature versus nurture argument. This unconscious element is the nature aspect of who we are. It's the ingrained part of who we are. So when the reader reads of the perfect feminized hero and agrees that such a man is indeed perfect. She will still sit the book aside because of the feeling that the story isn't believable. This is largely because hard-wired into our unconscious is a deep understanding of what masculine and feminine energy is. If you want your story to speak to both the readers conscious and unconscious mind, you must make your hero operate from a place of masculine energy and your heroin primarily from a place of feminine energy. This might be a controversial theme to offer, given today's cultural climate, there appears to me to be a push in the Western world for males and females to switch gender roles. In the real-world, females are beginning to dominate and historically masculine roles. And in males are beginning to move into historically feminine roles. Please understand that this point I'm making about masculine and feminine energy isn't my critique of today's society. I'm speaking strictly in terms of evolution or this element within us that culture can't touch like it or not. Most men are naturally drawn to feminine energy, and most women are drawn to masculine energy. I'm not making the case that this is a good or a bad thing. It's just a matter of human nature, a reality that your romance novel should reflect. Okay, now at the Broad stuff has been covered, we're going to explore some narrow specifics. Don't have your hero or heroine offer a complement that is not reinforced by action. Words are cheap. Seeing is believing. Remember to show and not tell such developing affections. For example, females that are attracted to a male will find an excuse to physically touch him. It doesn't need to be so obvious as a touch of the hand. Having her pick a piece of lint off of his collar or playfully pushing him away is enough. See, again, as a writer, you're striving to speak to both the readers conscious and unconscious mind. The readers may consciously miss the plucked lint detail, but their unconscious mind won't. The unconscious mind. We'll see that physical touch has been made. This further flirting is now accepted as being believable. Another element that really boost this understanding is eye contact. When you have your heroin look into the heroes eyes. Don't let him break eye contact. Had him stare right back into her eyes. And in a way that he demonstrates that his focus is solely on her. And back to the touching thing. He needs to follow her cues. If she touches him, then it's okay for him to touch her, but only in a proportional way. It's not like she picked a lint off of his collar and now he can caress or face. If she stops touching him, he should stop touching her. It's really all about body language. Happier. Heroin gives subtle signals. Do her body language, and have your hero understand that body language and respond accordingly. In terms of behavior, keep in mind that your heroin wants to be noticed. She wants to have her efforts appreciated and reciprocated. Have your hero do this. For example, if you have a scene where the heroine goes shopping for a special dress, have the hero later tell her how beautiful she locks in that dress? Personally, I think that a believable, successful relationship shows that the couple is not focused on what they can get out of the other, but rather what they can give to their partner. I think it's best that at the end of your story, you should have a hero that's putting the heroine first and a heroin that's putting the hero first. Now, this is tricky. You don't want them to exist for each other at the expense of their individuality. The point really is that you are striving to show a relationship that has little to do with selfishness. Like it's not what you get. Rather the joy of giving to a loved one. Also, this giving isn't Micah currency. For example. He rubbed her feet soon now she owes him a BackRub. No. He rubs her feet because he enjoys seeing her moan and satisfaction. She rubs his back because she knows it helps to ease his pain. Now, your hero and heroine shouldn't just fall in love. They should find each other interesting as well. In other words, they need to come to both love and like each other. In fact, some would argue that the liking aspect of the romance is more important in the end. Because the strong friendship factor leaves the reader with the feeling that the relationship will enter the testaments of time. Okay, moving on. Your hero and heroine need to be heroic, meaning that they cannot be reacting all the time. They can't be wimps. They need to be proactive, at least at the latter part of the story. In this same light, the conflict that they face should not be the result of their short-sightedness, stupidity, or clumsiness. Such story conflicts have been done to death and are ultimately unsuccessful because the readers struggles to empathize with them. See, all good romance novels possessed the fundamental structural components. These are in part, suspense, conflict, climax, and resolution. This is, and what turns the pages. The conflict is largely what gets the reader emotionally invested. And the working towards the climax and resolution is the process that ultimately satisfies the reader. All of these components fall apart. If you create weak and reactive heroes and heroines. I might as well delve deeper into successful hero and heroine qualities while I'm on this subject. For one, the hero and heroine are always kind to those that are less powerful than they are. They can punch up as much as you want them to, but they never punched down. Don't try to build a hero that starts the store kicking dogs and screaming at children, only to be kind to both at the end. Such a story won't work in a romance. Heroes and heroines will never gossip and won't enjoy the plight of others even when such troubles are justly deserved. They are only root to one another. And even in those cases, they are never vicious or cruel. You can have them be witty and offer wise cracks as much as you want. But never have them be hateful. They don't lie. However, they can be tight vested with the truth. In many cases, the hero is deliberately misleading when striving to protect the heroin from harm. For example, the hero and heroine should never commit adultery. Now, there have been quite a few successful romances that do have adultery in them. But it is so difficult to write a successful romance book involving adultery that I recommend against it. This is primarily because if your hero and heroine are willing to cheat on their significant other, then a conclusion where the hero and heroine will be forever happy is difficult for the reader to believe. If they were comfortable having affairs in the past than what's stopping them from having affairs in the future. Same light. You usually want to avoid having the hero and heroine get together in a rebound relationship. The reader usually believed that such relationships typically don't endure. You've once your hero and heroine to evolve as individuals together. Successful romance novels don't just show the gradually growing romance, but also the personal growth as well. And for goodness sake, keep your hero and heroine together throughout the majority of the story. The general rule is, don't go more than ten pages where the hero and heroine are part. Also, when you have your characters realise that they are in love with the other, don't just gloss over that. That is the time to slow the pace way, way down and delve into the inner world of the hero and heroine. So many romance novels fail because the author just demonstrates that the couple is now in love and then moves on. The reader wants to see the character's thoughts and emotions, especially during such a pivotal point in the story. Keep in mind that these characters are called the hero and the heroine for reason. One of the reasons for this is to remind the rider that they are beyond petty humanness. Make them human, but make them heroic as well. It's important that your romance story is based much more on the emotional story than on the intellectual story. Think of it this way. And emotional story works from the inside out. And an intellectual story begins and ends on the outside. The intellectual aspects of your story are important in so far as the story makes logical sense. But it's the successful emotional story that will leave the reader satisfied. It helps to envision the plot and the romance to be interwoven strands of thread. Neither the plot nor the romance can exist without the other thread. It's the plot that unites the heroine and hero and is the romance that pushes the plot forward. These two threads work in tandem to create the happily ever after ending that is required for romance novel. 11. Character Growth and Development : In this lecture, I'm going to discuss character development and growth. Character development and growth is arguably what your story is going to be about. Main characters begin their journey through the plot with a certain set of goals and beliefs. Their encounters with the stories conflict, their involvement with other characters and their experience with the setting will result in shifting their governing goals and beliefs. Well-written characters require growth. This means that they require change and their time with plot, setting and other characters facilitate this change. At the end of the story, these characters have developed and grown into a more whole and dynamic person. There are such stories where characters do not undergo development and growth, but these are not character stories and such books are enjoyed by a relative view. This is because whether consciously or not readers know that profound situations change people. Therefore, if your story possesses profound situations, having your characters change will make them feel more believable to the reader. Also, readers usually want to follow characters that are evolving. This subject of character development helps to emphasize the role of a story outline. An outline will help you in determining where the character begins as a person and how the character ends as a person. Knowing the transitions your character needs to make ahead of time will not only simplify the writing process, it will make the character's development and growth more believable. Asking yourself questions is usually the best way to begin the outlining process. Where does the emotional conflict and tension between the characters in setting originate from? Are there issues of control or dependence? What fears consume your characters? Try pondering a list of questions that you think will cut to the core of who your characters are and how they need to end up to become truly complete. After answering these questions, create a story outline that allows your characters to explore those themes. The benefits of an outline in this situation is that it allows you to find a successful story via trial and error without the consequence of writing yourself into a dead end while writing your book. Here, I realized that this topic can be especially daunting. So I'll offer a little more guidance. In the exact middle of many successful books is a plot point termed the mirror moment. I provide several lectures that delve deeply into the mirror moment. But for now, just understand that at this point in the story, the character takes a long, hard look at themselves. At this moment, the character self-deception is dropped. And only the core of what truly matters becomes the characters principal focus. This mirror moment can be about anything. It just has to entail character development. Sometimes it involves some moral flaw that the character needs to overcome. Sometimes the person needs to become braver and confront the danger. The characters from The Wizard of Oz undergo such transformations. Sometimes this mirror moment does not originate from the character that has the mirror moment. In other words, sometimes this mirror moment is inflicted upon your character by another character. Think of this scene in the movie as good as it gets when Greg Kashmir tells Jack Nicholson's character that you are an absolute horror of a human being. Ultimately, the point here is to realize that in most cases, your main characters need to change. And this change often involves a pivotal scene. Writing your book would be a lot easier if you articulate this pivotal scene ahead of time. Knowing the mirror moment means that you know where your character was and where he or she is going. After you determine this, your outline is well underway. Another way of thinking about this is to consider the internal and external elements that facilitate character change. What is occurring outside of the character is forcing the character to change. These are the experiences, the ingredients in the recipe for change. Then there is what is occurring within the character. How the external situations are impacting the character as a being. You see, it's important to think of the plot and the character as being fused at the hip. The characters make choices which alter the plot, but it's the plot that forces those decisions. Now, think of those decisions as a representation of the character. In other words, those choices are literally the character. The choices are the character. Thus, to reveal character growth and development, your character will be making different choices at the close of the book than she or he would be able to make at the beginning of the book. Simply put, character growth is vital and most stories start by figuring out who your characters are at the start of the story. Then who they are at the end. Then contemplate what changes need to take place in order to move that character from how they begin to how they end. And remember that mirror moment, that short scene that reveals genuine self reflection. 12. Romance World Rules: In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing World rules for romance novels. Allow me to begin by saying that in fiction there are no hard rules. There are exceptions to every so-called rule. But the thing is, just because there are no hard rules, does it mean that you are free to ignore the rules? You learned the rules so that you know when and why to break them. For example, you were probably taught in school that you cannot begin a sentence with the word. And however, many literary masterpieces have broken this so-called rule. The difference is that despite knowing this rule, the author knew that it was the right time to break it. Your book is your creation. And even though you are creating it for an audience, it is yours. In the end, you need to write for yourself. You have to ask yourself if what you're writing is what you would like to read. By all means consultant, editor, get the opinions of friends and family. But in the end, the final decision is yours. At least. That's how I recommend you approach your writing day. Because the fear of judgement will stop you from even trying. The best way to get past this fear is to embrace the fact that the book belongs to you. It's a piece of your legacy. Treat your works as if they are yours because they are a hard truth is that you will never be able to please everyone. No matter your best efforts, you will get critics that will voice their complaints. You can heat their advice if you so choose. But never let their criticism reach your heart. Because it is in your heart, not your head or your story is born. Be proud of your work, even if it is hated by all, be proud of it. Because the reality is that you gave birth to something that never existed before. You put in the hours, the months, and maybe even the years. You've earned the right to be proud. You can't please everyone. So please yourself. So that being said, let's get into the rules. The romance novel is about the romance. There's a lecture in this course that delves into the need to not over-complicate the plot. So I'll just gloss over that point here. In the end, your stories about two people navigating their way to their happily ever after. If you have too much conflict, too many characters, too much of this, or that, you will lose focus of that which ultimately matters. The romance. This course is full of guidance on building your story. I cover plotting, conflict, characterization, setting, and everything else I can think of. All of this information is coming from a personal belief that it is better to know too much than too little. I've provided this abundance of information so that you at least better understand what is involved in a successful story. But if all of this information pushes you to create an overly complicated story than I have failed. You never let go of your focus. That of the romance, the emotional story, the achievement of this satisfying, happily ever after this lecture feels like I'm having a heart-to-heart with you. So I might as well go with it. Plot, setting and characterization. These are the three pillars that uphold any good story. All genres used these three, but the manner in which they are used are dependent upon the genres goals. As a writer of romance, you're focus is on characterization. Your Plot and Setting exist to move your hero and heroine apart and together in a manner that emotionally engages the reader. Consider the horror genre for a moment. Novelists in this genre are reliant on setting to evoke what they desire from the reader. But in a romance, it doesn't matter if they are in a palace or a haunted graveyard. The emphasis is on them. What are they feeling and why are they currently emotionally moving towards or away from the one person they were one day decide to spend the rest of their life with. It's not your character's head that you are trying to portray. It's the heart, it's their soul that you are trying to reveal to the reader. In this way, Plot and Setting exist as a means for you to reveal who your characters are, why they do what they do, and why the two belong together. But here's the thing. Why should the reader care who these people are? They can be the most inherently interesting characters in all of fiction. But that alone is not enough. These characters must interact with something for the story to retain the reader's interest. See, the human system is built to detect change. We barely feel the clothing against our body. But if we brush up against something unexpectedly, we will certainly take notice staring at a still Forest. We will only take notice of the trees and the leaves. But if something should move, a bird take to flight, a rabbit hopping over a log, our eyes will immediately focus upon that motion. This is the part of our nervous system that has allowed us to survive and thrive amongst predators and prey. Well. So too is the nature of the story. Say for example, that your hero and heroine are the equivalent of the beautiful forest. Well, without seeing the stories equivalent of a bird taking to flight or a snake slithering through the brush. The viewer or the reader will become desensitized and lose interest. The purpose of Plot and Setting is to keep your reader actively engaged on watching that forced. In other words, who cares at that forest is beautiful. If nothing is happening. As human beings, it is activity, motion that engages in Holtz our attention. You need ebb and flow to your story. Tempo, pacing, call it what you will. The essence is that your story needs to be variation. It needs moments that unleash adrenaline and elevated anxiety in your readers. But we humans are limited creatures and can only sustain such peaks for so long. For this reason, your story needs slow moments where the reader can relax and come to New York characters on an intimate level, but sustain this slow pace for too long. And your reader will become bored. It's not their fault or yours is just the way we humans are built. Think of it this way. A three hour movie that is nothing but one long battle scene will exhaust, then lose the audience's interest. It doesn't matter how expensive that movie was to make. It will fail. Because as human beings, we require the slow as well as the fast. If we were walking in the woods, our ability to detect a predator would be lost if all of the squirrels were running circles around her feet, the birds were flying above our head. The insects were scratching out their song. The deer were walking alongside us and so on. Our sensory perception is based largely on change. Such intense and prolonged activity degrade our sensitivity. Let me give you a real-world example of just how limited our perceptions are. You're going to need to be able to pause this for this example to work. Take a look around you and commit to memory everything that is the color blue. This is where you would pause. Now, if you can close your eyes and start naming everything that is the color brown. Pause here if possible. Now, unless you are in an extremely familiar environment, your list is probably shorter than it should be. Another example is to try to describe an object in your peripheral vision. Sure, you can see it. But now that you are trying to describe it, can you see it as well as you thought you could? Again, what I'm trying to help you see here is that your story needs to fit the neurological and cultural needs of the human organism. This is a major reason why stories have rules over centuries of trial and error, writers have discovered what the human psyche needs, craves in a story to give them what they want and need to break these rules is to go against the centuries of tried and true strategies. But as writers, we exist in the realm of invention and we cannot be afraid of occasionally venturing into the unknown. Now, return back to that example of walking in the woods with all of the woodland creatures tugging and pulling against your senses. This is another reason why you don't want to overload your romance with too many technical details, too much plot, too much conflict, too much, if anything, that would prevent your travels from revealing those predators. The story is the romance. If you forget that, then you will write his story that no longer belongs in the romance genre. It will be something else, a thriller or an action novel that has romance elements in it. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that you're here to learn how to write a romance novel. And writing a romance novel involves keeping your traveler, your reader, tune into the romance. This course is throwing a lot at you. But while it may seem contradictory, I believe that it is important to remember that oftentimes, the less is more. You might be surprised how minimalism can accomplish a great deal. I think a good example of this is the book titled The Road by Cormac McCarthy. In your pursuit to achieve the day's work count, it can become easy to delve into the nuances of some situation. By all means, write the words that come to you. But when you read over those words, ask yourself if there's a more direct and concise way to say what you've written. Then consider adjustments as you deem best. That being said, the rules again hold true. Human beings require variation. So if you realize solely on the less is more principle, then you again risk desensitizing your reader. You need to shake it up. Welcome the occasional passage that is filled with elaboration so as to disrupt the familiar. Now mind you, such variations shouldn't shock your reader. Meeting that the change in writing style needs to fit in with the story. You need to keep in mind that the romance reader knows that they are picking up a book that will have a happy ending. In summary, what you want to do is make your reader nervous that they won't get there happily ever after. But when they do get their happy ending, the reader finds the ending believable and satisfying. Salmon and Simon's summarized the romance novel in the book, lawyer lovers. In this book it is written. The romance novel is a chronicle of female mate choice, which the heroine overcomes obstacles to identify when and marry the hero who embodies the physical, psychological, and social characteristics that constitute high male mate value during the course of human evolutionary history. This is a mechanistic explanation of the romance novel. And while technically correct, I like to give emphasis to another element. The purpose of a romance novel is to make the reader believed that love, true love exists where two people battled through the conflict to be rewarded with enduring bliss. The world of romance is in the end, idealistic. This means that in this fictional realm, the sway of morality remains supreme. Good guys, when bad guys lose, good guys are rewarded, bad guys are punished. Again, your focus here needs to be on the romance, which is why I advise against using subplots in your story. You can have minor subplots here and there if you deem them necessary. But if you have subplots, They need to either be related to the main plot or exist to set up your SQL. You see there are two problems with subplots. First, from a writer's perspective, it's all too easy to become lost in them. This will often result in too many words that aren't related to the romance you are supposed to be focusing on. Second, they are potentially distracting to the reader. Your reader picked up your book to see the developing romance of your hero and heroine. Not to have their attention veer off here and there so as to witness your pet projects. For the same reason, you should have as few characters as possible. I provide a lecture on the use of non main characters. But for now, please understand that the more characters you have, the potentially more strained your story becomes. The only exception to this is that if you are planning on doing a SQL involving your current books, secondary characters, in which case, an introduction to these characters can boost your next book. But again, avoid the temptation of getting lost here. Your focus needs to be on this book's hero and heroine, not your next books, hero and heroine. 13. Conflict in General : And this lecture series I'm going to be discussing the issue of conflict. Conflict is a fundamental element in every piece of fiction and its use can make or break your book. So we are going to be spending a significant amount of time on this subject. Not only because there's a great deal of ground to cover, but also because I want to be sure that you understand it all. So consider this particular lesson to be a general overview of the topic of conflict. Other lessons we'll delve deeply into the many nuances of the subject. This lesson exists for you to get your bearings, so to speak. Alfred Hitchcock famously stated, what is drama, but life with UDL parts cut out. Well, that sums up the role of conflict. No matter how fantastic your fiction is, your story needs to represent life. But in a way that is intriguing and exciting to the reader. Focusing on conflict is largely how you accomplish this feat. Think of it this way. Who on Earth wants to read about happy people living in happy land where everything goes wonderfully and as expected, think of conflict as the barrier that hinders the main character or characters in achieving their goal. Actually, when I'm about to say is going to confuse you. But don't worry about that for now. Just tuck this sentence into the back of your mind. Conflict is the device you use to teach your protagonist's what they need as opposed to what they want. Okay, so generally speaking, how do you determine what conflict to use in your story? Well, before you answer that question, you need to first determine who the characters are that you need to evolve throughout the story. Then ask what barriers would best stand in the way of these characters achieving their goals? Then take setting into consideration. Obviously, conflict will look different in a historical piece than it would in a story set in the future. Just as a cowboy would face different conflicts, then a sailor. Next, figure out just how long you want your story to be. If you are set on writing a 400 page book, then you need to make sure that your conflict can hold up for that many pages. On the flip side, if you are trying to make a relatively short book, be aware that your conflict cannot be enormous. That said, I must caution you that when it comes to conflict, it is better to have too much. Then two little. While you often want your conflict to be tremendous, you rarely want it to be insurmountable. Lastly, after you've worked this stuff out, the next step is to ask yourself why the reader should care about the conflict? What would make you care about this conflict? Is there something you can add like emotional danger or take away by too much emotional sensitivity. Where the reader just wants to tell the characters that they are too weak and sensitive. In other words, now is the time to scrutinize your conflict ideas. And you do so by bombarding them with questions. You must always think of these scrutinizing questions as tools for improvement, not a force that stops you from trying. It's always better to write and fail than it is to not write at all. Okay, so moving on. Conflict often revolves around a character being threatened with death. There are three types of death. There's physical death, where a person is at risk of losing their life. There's professional death, where one is at risk of losing everything a person has worked and trained to become. Then there's psychological death or the humanity or the inner life of the person is threatened. Dying from this latter form of death results in a character being forever unhappy. So when contemplating your conflict, try taking one of these forms of death into consideration. Generally speaking, there are two types of conflict, internal conflict and external conflict. Another way of proceeding these two forms of conflict is to consider them as the long-term and the short-term problem. In brief, the external conflict is the short-term problem that forces the plot to move forward. This is the threat of the charging Army, Day approaching monster. The rent being passed to the villains stealing the throne. All those aspects of the story that threatened the character, but ultimately cannot touch the character's soul. The internal conflict is the long-term problem that the character is wrestling with within themselves. The internal conflict does not move the plot. The plot moves the internal conflict. Think of it this way and this should help you better understand that sentence. I told you to tuck into the back of your mind. The goal of almost every story is to successfully reveal character transformation. This requires the character to change, and change does not occur in a vacuum. In order for the character to evolve, that character must be stretched. That character must be challenged, must be forced to assess and reassess and re-evaluate who they are, what they believe in, and what truly matters most to them deep down in their core. Such profound realizations only occur on the other side of significant challenges. This is the inner conflict. The conflict to that the characters are wrestling with and side themselves. When this conflict finds resolution, you are usually free to end the story because it is at this point that you have proven character transformation. Think of it this way. At the end of the fireworks display, there's a stage at the end called the grand finale. This is the point in the fireworks display that the audience was hoping would leave them feeling satisfied. The resolution of the internal conflict is akin to this grand finale. The grand finale accomplishes two goals. One, it wants to make the audience feel satisfied, and to its conclusion tells the audience that the show is over. The external conflict is the majority. The fireworks that make up 80% of the show. It's what kept the audience mesmerized while in waiting for that grand finale. Now, to push the point further, the grand finale only has significance because of the 20 or 30 minutes of fireworks that preceded it. The audience would feel less fulfilled if the firework show was just an intense three minutes display. In other words, your internal conflict needs your external conflict for it to mean anything. Still confused. Here, let me try to explain this a different way. Your stories internal conflict is your primary focus. It's like a massive boulder that needs to move, but will not move without the powerful engine of external conflict to push it forward. Susie is terrified of going outside and internal conflict. Her house catches fire. External conflict. Because of the external conflict, She has no choice but to confront her internal conflict. Does she go outside or get burned? The conclusion of the external conflict occurs as soon as she stepped outside. The conclusion the internal conflict occurs when she realizes that she is no longer afraid of being outside. Don't worry if you're still confused. Elaborate on all of this in other lectures. For now, all you really need to understand is that conflict serves as a change engine. It's what breaks the character from the status quo. It's what generates the reader's interest in the story. And it's what changes the character from within. 14. Romance Novel Conflict in General - part 1: Conflict serves a very important role. And romance novels, the force. This is the term that romance writers use to describe the element that pushes the would-be coupled together. Forget Star Wars. The Force now means something different to you. Romance writers. Writing a romance novel requires you to create a delicate balance between push and pull. For example, the hero and heroine want to get together. But getting together is an impossibility for some reason or other. Or the dynamics can be the opposite. They hate each other and they desire nothing more than to be apart from one another. But at the close of the story, they have fallen deeply in love. Okay? And both of these extremes the couple needs to arrive at there happily ever after. This is accomplished through the literary dance of push and pull. They can't be together, but something forces them together. Anyway. This is the force. Ok, there's a great deal to break down here. So I'm going to take it slow. In a different lesson, I discussed the roles of the short-term and the long-term problem. The short-term problem is the external conflict. The long-term problem is the internal conflict is simple example may help. She's had her heartbroken and can never trust herself to love again. He considers himself to be too involved in his work to embrace a deep and meaningful relationship. These are examples of internal conflict, albeit weak ones. Suddenly dire situation occurs that forces the two to work together and utilize each other strings to overcome the others weaknesses in order to survive. They have no choice but to spend meaningful time with one another. During this time, they gradually erode the internal conflicts, strength over them. In the end, she trusts herself to love. He finds a, his work was only a way to hide himself from his most inner longings of having a deeply meaningful relationship. They save the day and walk off into there happily ever after, hand in hand. In this example, you wouldn't just have them slowly but surely moving towards each others love. Don't think of this as taking baby steps towards your resolution. Think of it as a walk where you take two steps forward and one step backwards, things are going well. They surprisingly connected. Yea. But oh no, she's wholeheartedly support something that he has spent his life opposing. They come to resolve that issue only to run into another stumbling block. And so it goes until the external conflict is behind them and they have to overcome their internal conflict. Think of it this way. The reader craves to see the developing relationship. It's all the more interesting when these two can't, shouldn't, wouldn't get together, but they do nonetheless. Now, whether the reader knows it or not, the reader wants to believe that the Union that the couple has forged is strong enough to endure the trials at time. In other words, if the reader where to peek into the couples lives 15 years into the future, the reader wants to find a couple still very much in love. The only way to accomplish this feat is to put your hero and heroine through conflicts. Gauntlet. Just think about it. What relationship seems more likely to endure the trials of time? One were the two people fall in love while vacationing at a luxurious resort, or one where the couple has forged their love within a hostile environment. Okay? There's a problem with this example. I'm trying to make the point that a relationship born out of conflict is more enduring than the relationship that was created without being tested. So if he got that point, I now have to digress and make a contradiction of sorts. Men and women are affected differently by dangerous situations. Science has shown that males can get lustful longings and hostile situations. To speak bluntly, This is because men just need to plant the seed. Nature doesn't require us to tend to it. If we are about to die than our biology tells us to spread our seed as quickly as possible. The opposite occurs with women. Women are on the hook for not only the nine months, but also after the baby is born. Put it another way, the female brain gets lustful longings when the brain feels free to relax, stress, anxiety, fear, threats, et cetera. These are not aphrodisiac for women. You need to keep that in mind because you're romance is likely to have intimate scenes in dangerous situations. In order to make your romance novel believable, you're going to have to make the intimate scenes occur when the heroine believes that she is at least relatively safe. That's if you don't want to use that cheap trick of booze and drugs, which negates this biological rule. Now, to confuse you even more. So here's a contradiction of sorts to what I just spoke about. Males take females to see scary movies at the movie theater because the combination of the safe environment and a frightening movie evokes a bunch. 15. Romance Novel Conflict in General - part 2: Now we need to explore the nuances of conflict and romance novels. A good place to begin is to explain what conflict isn't. Conflict isn't the hero and heroine arguing with one another? The disagreement can be a consequence of conflict. But then raising their voices about who left the fridge door open or whatever isn't conflict. It isn't the delay that slows their progress. They are racing towards a friend's wedding. And I know there's a traffic accident that is halted their journey. That delay isn't a conflict. It isn't a failure of communication. Now I'm including this one because it's been done to death. Known as the big miss. This occurs when the hero and heroine have a misunderstanding that is the result of making a wrong assumption, jumping to conclusions or whatever it is that keeps the hero and heroine for being clear with one another. While this is technically conflict, it should be avoided for two reasons. One, it's been overused, and two, it's stupid because the two need to just sit down and have an adult conversation to resolve it. Conflict isn't one of the two refusing to admit to themselves that the other is physically attractive. In fact, there's practically a rule in romance novels that the two should be instantly attracted to one another. They usually can't act on this attraction for one reason or another. But to deny this attraction runs contrary to the romance genre. Simply put, just because there's a problem, doesn't mean there's conflict. I find it easiest to think of conflict in terms of function rather than form. What is it that is keeping the couple from there happily ever after? And what is the trouble that is forcing the two together? The deeper into the human experience you go, the better the story. For example, hating each other at first sight is cliche. But exploring the matters of the human spirit can go far. Think of it this way. The best romances entailed both the hero and heroine making a genuine and willing, non resentful sacrifice for the other. This sacrifice reveals the truth of their love for the other. Conflict sets the stage for this believable sacrifice to occur. Here's an important rule to end on. Both the hero and heroine must be ready and able to be involved in a romance. This is vital for you to keep in mind. Because if you get so consumed by your conflict, the reader will wonder what these two are doing, trying to be all lovey. W0. The reader might think that there's far too much at stake, way too much danger and anxiety for these two to even consider taking the time to fall in love. Like everything else in writing. It's a balancing act. Keep the main objective of your chosen genre in mind at all times. For the romance genre, that means the romance, your conflict needs to serve the goals of that developing and threatened romance. 16. External Conflict Romance - part 1 : The purpose of this lecture is to make sure that you are clear on what external conflict is. I'm going to approach this topic from multiple angles as an effort to establish clarity. One place to begin is defining the difference between the long-term and the short-term problem. A significant goal in nearly all character stories is to accomplish character development. In brief, character development occurs when the reader has witnessed the gradual and logical transformation of a particular character. Character development is usually one of the last things writers want to resolve at the end of the story, including the character development process is typically a much more challenging feat. Then say, the hero defeating the villain. This is why it is known as the long-term problem. In simplistic terms, the internal conflict and the long-term problem are the same thing. External conflict is the short-term problem. Now, this doesn't mean that the external conflict does not take long to resolve. It simply means that when compared to the internal conflict, it is a short-term problem. Almost all novels require a short-term and a long-term problem. You need a short-term problem to generate the necessary conflict, to build a plot that is ever pushing forward. But you need the long-term conflict to make your reader care about your character. The short-term problem is usually the first major problem to be clearly articulated in the novel. The long-term problem is usually not so black and white. It takes time to develop it and to move the character where the character is capable of resolving it. Here, I find that it helps to view the two as being connected. The short-term conflict is what forces the character to confront the long-term problem. In other words, without the external conflict, the character would never be required to change. But without the internal conflict, no reader cares. For example, such and such a character is terrified of leaving his house. But, oh no, that house is on fire. The external conflict is forcing him out of the house whether he is ready or not. But if it wasn't for the long-term problem, no one would care. Anyone can just walk out of a burning house. But when you show that individuals terror of entering the outside world, suddenly you have a character that the reader can become interested in. In a romance novel, it is the short-term conflict that forces the couple to stay in each other's company. It is the long-term problem that pushes the couple apart. Okay? Clear so far, the external conflict is usually obvious to the reader. You don't use codes and simulations, metaphors, or otherwise beat around the bush. The external conflict is the meteor heading towards Earth, the volcano, the evil boss threatening to fire you. The evil step parents or the abusive culture. External conflict is in every way clear to the reader. And what's more, it is made obvious to the reader how this force is a threat to the protagonist. Next, the external conflict isn't something that can be easily resolved. You can make the external conflict composed of a series of separate but interlinked challenges. But on the whole, your external conflict should usually take the bulk of the book to be resolved. It helps to think of the external conflict as the part that you include in your book description. Sarah must save the earth from an alien attack or whatever. You aren't mentioning the bad relationship that Sarah has with their son that she must resolve to become whole again, or the pain from our past that she must confront. Rather, it is the clear, concise, and poignant external conflict that you use to grab the reader's attention. Simply put, external conflict originates from other characters, the plot and or other circumstances. Internal conflict is sourced from within the protagonist. 17. External Conflict Romance - part 2 : In this brief lecture, I want to discuss external conflict. That is, culturally based. Culture can be a powerful force in generating external conflict. Just look at Romeo and Juliet. What kind of story would that be without the Montagues and the Capulets? There is a great deal to forbidden relationships. The rich shouldn't get too close to the poor, and the poor can't trust the rich. A pair from separate sides of warring nations should not form a positive bond. Next, there are cultural taboos. You can look at your own present culture and figure out relationships that society frowns upon. Forming such relationships that one simply does not do. We'll add not only flair to your story, but also generate an external conflict that will greatly aid in the development of your story. For example, how much fuel was provided to George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series by having brother and sister or Jamie and Searcy romantically involved with one another. In short, external conflict can be a force that society, culture, or one's own family can generate. You don't always have to have a named villain or some dire threat, like an asteroid hurtling towards Earth. When crafting your external plot, first take into consideration what transformation you want your characters to make. Perhaps some culturally based external conflict will be best suited in assisting in your character's development. 18. External Conflict Romance - part 3 : In this lecture, I'm going to discuss some parameters for your villain or antagonist. Should you choose to have such a character in your story? If you take the time to think of your favorite book or movie that contains a villain. You will almost always find a villain that is more powerful than the hero. The reason for this should be obvious. The hero or heroine needs to defeat a force that is unlikely to be defeated. In other words, no one wants to read about the challenges that good guideline hasn't defeating the evil mouse. However, the mouse defeating the lion. Now, there's a story. You never want to make things easy for your good guys. All of their successes must be earned in one way or another. You're allowed to have happenstance and convenience in your book, but only if it benefits the villain. In other words, as a writer, you are allowed to cheat on your enemy's behalf. For whatever reason, readers will allow blind luck to benefit the villain, but rarely the good guy. This next point is important. The reader needs to be able to sympathize with the villain. In other words, the villain needs to be fueled or motivated by something that seems, at least on some level, justifiable to the reader. The villain needs to be operating by a clear moral code, may only make sense to him or her. For example, many stories have a villain as a cold-hearted murderer, but would never steal even if his own life depended upon it. Lastly, the evil actions that the villain performs needs to serve some greater good as determined by that villain. Thinks Santos, who justifies killing half of all life in the universe because it allows the other half to flourish and exist without experiencing lack. Sure, that's super evil. But the audience gets to see that moral reasoning behind that evil. Of course, your villain, does it need to be that extreme? Maybe he's a land developer that is eager to destroy an important ecosystem, but only so that people that cannot currently afford a roof over their head will finally have access to affordable shelter. In other words, your villain shouldn't be a person who was twisting the tip of his mustache and trying to be evil for evil sake. Such a character will make your story fall flat. Ideally, you want your reader to pity or sympathize with their villain while at the same time root against him or her. Villains in a romance novel serve a specific purpose to push the heroine and hero together. If you write a love triangle, that third male is not a villain. He isn't ideal mate that exists on the other side of the spectrum. We'll get to that. I just wanted to make it clear that you don't want to treat the third and your love triangle as a bad guy. Love triangles are actually very difficult to get right, which is why I recommend against writing them. If you write a romance with a love triangle, then that's mostly what you'll be covering in your Romance book. You won't have time for much else because such a romance requires all the time and attention to showing the push and pull for and from the potential companions. It can be done, but it requires so much more effort that I really don't recommend it unless those are the romances that you only enjoy reading. Or you have plans of writing a series based around the same characters. The twilight saga by Stephanie Meyer is a good example of this. Just so you know, though, the romance literary market is supersaturated with a vampire and werewolf steamed books. Now, the wrong man or the other woman can be portrayed as villains. Again, though, you need to make it clear that these characters are the antagonist, But you should give them some redeeming qualities, or at least some characteristics that makes the wrongful actions seem reasonable in that character's head. The wrong man doesn't need to be an evil man. He just needs to be wrong for the heroin. This isn't the same as a love triangle because the heroin doesn't feel romantically drawn to the wrong man. The wrong man can take on different roles in a romance. I don't recommend such an external conflict technique, mostly because the principle of the external conflict is to push the hero and heroine together. And this can be an especially challenging way of accomplishing that. But the wrong man and the other woman are available to you if you choose to use them. Again, your external conflict is not only the vehicle for pushing the hero and heroine together, it also functions as a way turning the internal conflict. You use external conflict to demonstrate through example, how this couple that cannot get together because of their internal conflict should get together. Because whether they know it or not, they are the best thing for each other. You're willing can be your external conflict. If you have your villain accomplish these feeds. If you're villain doesn't do the things outlined in this lecture, then you are going to need to have other external conflict factors that do. And always remember, your external conflict must be resolved in the end. Don't make your villain too powerful. Or if you do leave in a believable back door to defeat the overpowered enemy. For example, tricking the evil sorcerer and a Latin to wish himself into an imprisoned Jeannie. You can be as clever as you like, its believability that you're after. And you could always create believability by sprinkling and hence of the solution periodically throughout your book. Lastly, you must consider the genre within which you are writing when portraying your villains actions, certain evil actions are accepted by one type of audience, but are on welcomed by a different audience. For example, the villains found in horror books are not found in children's books. 19. Internal Conflict for Romance - part 1 : In this lecture, I want to delve into the concept of internal conflict. In a romance novel, The internal conflict is the emotional or the thinking component inside the hero and heroine that prevents the two from fully committing to each other. Internal conflict should not be resolved through a simple, logical conversation. It is usually resolved do character transformation. In a romance novel, there are two components to conflict. One is the external conflict. This is the element that forces the two together. Without this force, the two can just go about their merry way. Without the external conflict, there would be no pressure for them to resolve their differences and get to know the other. The internal conflict is what keeps them from jumping into each other's arms. It's easiest to think of the two as serving the push and pull function for the story. External conflict is pushing them together. Internal conflict is pulling them apart. Just to be clear, internal conflict is the conflict that the hero and heroine bring to the story from the start. While external factors, such as cultural pressure, can play a strong role in influencing the internal conflict. Ultimately, internal conflict derives from inside the individual character. Internal conflict provides the anxiety that the reader needs to be concerned that the couple will not get there happily ever after. Internal conflict can be viewed as the long-term conflict. Because resolving this conflict usually requires the character to have changed from how he or she was when the story began. Such change is typically only possible after the external conflict has been resolved. And resolving the external conflict is usually what gives the character the final nudge necessary to complete that character transformation. Lastly, romance novels are largely about the emotional story. When crafting your internal conflict, be careful to make that conflict more emotionally based than intellectually based. Also, internal conflict is fueled more by emotion than the external conflict usually is. Therefore, when writing a romance novel, it's especially important to give careful time and attention to your internal conflict. In a romance novel, it is mostly the external conflict that moves the plot forward. But it is for the internal conflict that the reader picked up your book. 20. Internal Conflict for Romance - part 2 : Character motivation has a role to play when determining an implementing internal conflict. In fact, the majority of your story will revolve around asking, in answering questions related to what does your character want and what can't or shouldn't this character due to attain that desire? In other words, motivation and the impediment to that motivation is largely what your story is about. Sometimes your characters will get what they want. Sometimes they won't. Usually the best stories involve the character's not getting what they want, but instead getting what they need and figuring out that need while pursuing their want. Motivation is the force that moves the character, the shaping and shifting. The motivation is what ultimately leads to character growth and development. So when contemplating internal conflict, ask yourself, what is it that this character wants most in the world? Why can't the character Habit? What does this character need that runs contrary to that one's? How does this dichotomy generate that character's internal conflict? Other authors may disagree with me, but I feel that your characters are an extension of yourself. This is both good and bad. It's good because if you embrace this perspective than your characters will be free to adopt a wealth that already resides within you. Your hopes, your fears, your love, your hatred. You can allow these repressed, suppressed, hushed longings and profound aspirations to bubble up to the surface and be given voice the your characters. Such a move maybe temporarily harsh to your psyche. But this technique will breathe life into the letters on the page. That's the benefit to such a writing strategy, a more realistic and engaging work. The problem with embracing this is that when you receive criticism for your work, that criticism will feel like an attack not on your work that against you as a person. There's no way to sugarcoat this. The more you put yourself into your story, the better your story. But also the more vulnerable you will be to criticism. You'll be burying your bare belly to the predators, if you will. But crafting art is for the brave. And composing literature is arguably at the bravest of all of the arts. It's up to you. But the more you integrate yourself into the story, the more you will feel the internal conflict. You don't need to jump into the deep end to learn to swim. Experiment. See what works for you, find your level of comfort. The most important thing of all is to get your words on the page. How you do that is up to you. Besides, I don't really think you have a choice. I suspect that if you're going to write fiction, that which is you will show up on your pages whether you like it or not. The question is, will you reveal yourself deliberately or not? 21. Internal Conflict for Romance - part 3 : In this lecture, I want to take a deeper look into internal conflict. Imagine a scenario where you are safely trapped in an elevator and a distant country, you will soon be leaving. There are just two people in this small room. You and a carrying stranger that you will never meet again. You and this person are stuck. But in this particular situation, you have no inclination to panic. Neither of you have a phone, no means of distraction. Only one thing exists. To pass the time. Talk. This stranger asks you a question that for some reason you feel the desire to genuinely answer. You know, you'll never see this person again. And you have, who knows how many hours to kill? Who are you? This stranger asks, you speak your name, give the familiar bland introduction, and give the strange at the NADH, expecting that answer to be sufficient. You want to say more. You want to tell your story to really open up and speak your mind. But you don't. Custom, routine, fear and practice makes you hold back. Doesn't accept You're not. The strangers. Eyebrows are raised, signaling you to go on. Who are you? The question is repeated in body language and in the stranger moves to sit and wait for your answer. For perhaps the first time in your life. You take a deep breath, Sit down on the floor across from the stranger, and prepare yourself to tell the story of who you are and why you are, who you are. Here's the thing. This is my experience, at least we aren't as different as you might think. We all have different histories, different goals, different genetics, different cultures, different social groups, different resources, and so on. You can divide and divide and divide our individuality into genuine uniqueness. But there is something that all of us share the human experience. This isn't just some philosophical concept, something to just shrug off. That which we fear is different between us. But we all know fear, even terror. We all want something different. But we all have yearnings. We all share pleasure, we all share pain. We all went to love and be loved. Most importantly, in my opinion, we are all very aware of our own mortality. That is the human experience in a nutshell, in my opinion. Those of us without disabilities touched this life with the same five senses. Our tastes very, but the flavor remains the same. And so it goes. So there you are still sitting on the floor of this elevator. You've wet and dry your cheeks several times in the hours that you've spoken to perhaps the best listener and all of the world. What did you say during all that time? You told a stranger of your history? You spoke of your hopes and fears. You did your very best to tell the stranger who you are and why. This is your story. Some parts were hard to tell, some hearts for fun. But this is your story up to this point in your life. You feel a sense of completion. Somehow you feel lighter through the telling of who you are. That's when the stranger stands. Thanks you gives you a hug, and then calmly steps over to the control panel, inserts a key into the panels lock, opens the door. This is a metaphor for your story. Once you start writing your book, your trapped until you've finished your story. In this example, you held nothing back. You told the truth in all of its gory glory and you left your listener deeply satisfied. And what's more? When you discover that your story was a hostage of sorts, you didn't mind when that understanding came. Your characters will each be unique in their own right. They will have different histories. And did all those differences that those of us in the real world share. But they will share the human experience. And that's what your readers are looking for, whether they know it or not. Imagine being in that same elevator, except this time you are the one with the elevator key. And your character is the one held prisoner until they spill their guts to you. What makes this character so unique? What are the threads in this character's story that each and every one of us can relate to. Your characters. Want to tell you their story and you want to listen. What was the point in your character's life when everything changed for them? What would need to happen in this character's future to transform into the person he or she needs not once to become, to relish in the human experience. What are your characters, beliefs, and values? What could happen to make them question, even alter these elements that they know are so fundamental to who they are as a person. Here's the point. In order to uncover the internal conflict. You must first know your character. This isn't some quick thing. You must know your character at depth, not in depth. This is beyond details. I'm not speaking of what you can tell from a character sketch or an outline. In fact, simplicity is key here. At the deepest level, past culture, past circumstances. I believe that deep within each of us, to us a light that we were born with that surpasses the nature and nurture debate in this Light is a delicate whisper that speaks of who we are after everything superfluous has been shed. This whispering light is what you need to hear from your character. This can be a difficult process. But once you are done, you have your story. Here. I'll tell you how. After you've discovered that your character is deep down, you open your book describing how they are present. You describe all that stuff that the character says he or she wants all the while hinting and suggesting to that which he or she needs to fulfill that whispering lights call. You then use conflict to prevent him or her from attaining those desires. Next, in the middle of the book, you have a pivotal moment when the character comes to hear that whispering light and sets upon a path to fulfill that lights beckoning. Towards the end, that light gains the voice of a booming battle cry. And at the end, the character arrives at Destiny fulfilled. See, here's the key. Your characters begin the story with the certainty that they know what they want, what they need, but they are wrong. And they require the story to show them and remind them how they are wrong so that they can spend the second half of the story getting it right. There go. They need internal conflict to traverse the journey to a destiny fulfilled. In order to accomplish any of this, you need to first understand your character at depth. 22. Internal Conflict for Romance - part 4 : In this lecture, I want to delve deeper into the emotional aspect of internal conflict. First and foremost, emotional conflict is always internal conflict. Your goal as a writer of fiction is to reach the reader on an emotional level. The way this is done is to reveal the emotional story that your characters are undergoing. No matter the genre. The more you make your character heartfelt, credible, deep, complex, and universal, the more you will reach your reader on an emotional level. Notice that these focal points are not found in external conflict. Aside from those afflicted with psychopathic and sociopathy tendencies, all of us crave to touch, to experience the stories that reveal and explore the inner world of an individual's experience. It is ND stories that we find the alerting archetypes. The goal isn't to make things easy for your characters. In fact, it's often the opposite. As a writer, you are free to be cruel to torture your creations. But to do so only for purpose, to force them to grow, to push them out of the door that they were wants too terrified to pass through. You are free to induce suffering. But only if in the end your characters are made more whole, more complete, better, stronger. A role model for your readers. Fear is an important part of internal conflict. But there is a spectrum to fear. There's mild concern and there's abject terror. There's the fear of the unknown. And there's the fear of the unknown. Keep these variations in mind when crafting your conflicts. Because while you need your characters to confront their fears and thus grow from this confrontation, you don't want to make the fear so enormous, so spectacularly huge that it renders the plot and character development unbelievable. But it's the internal conflict, the emotional story that will reach your reader on a level that will encourage your story to endure the trials of time. 23. Internal Conflict for Romance - part 5 : In this lecture, I want to explore the concept of backstory as it relates to internal conflict. The character's backstory will usually come to play a part in your novel. How important a part it plays will depend on what role you need it to have in your story. Backstory is a valuable tool that when used correctly, can create a beneficial amount of internal conflict between the two main characters. For example, Her parents were responsible for the burning of his village. His parents were responsible for kidnapping her parents, or she's terrified of fire, having barely survived a house fire. He's always been drawn to fire and spends his days and burning buildings as a firefighter. Or she was a professional thief that stole a valuable paintings. And he was once one of the detective's trying to figure out who was stealing the paintings, or her beloved adoptive parents are vampires. His beloved parents are vampire slayers. On the flip side, they can have backstories that generate an internal conflict that is based on jealousy. He's grown up in the lap of luxury, but has only known a plastic life filled with pretentious people. She's only known poverty, but regularly has deeply meaningful experiences with other people. In short, a relatively easy way to create internal conflict is to give your main characters conflicting backstories. Now, I'm not suggesting that you base your story around backstory. In fact, doing so a likely create a hollow story. But I certainly recommend considering using this method of using backstory to generate internal conflict for your novel. 24. Suspense Tension : Suspense is typically accomplished through the process called withholding. There are various ways to approach with holding. One way involves withholding information from the character's. Another way involves withholding information from the readers. Withholding information from the characters is also known as the Hitchcock effect. As discussed in another lecture. The Hitchcock effect occurs when the audience knows something that the characters do not. Like. The audience knows that there's a bomb under the bed. The audience is then in suspense because they are concerned about whether or not the characters we'll find the bomb and time. Withholding information from the reader is accomplished when the author knows what secret answers lie ahead, and then hence and teases the reader about revealing those answers. A third withholding technique involves a character withholding information from the reader and the other characters in the book. This technique is typically used with stories that have plot twists. The example of this is when the protagonist turns out to be someone that the reader and the other characters did not expect. You can see this strategy being used through the character Kaiser SOS a from the movie, The usual suspects. There are other techniques besides withholding that will help to create suspense. Many of these other techniques revolve around establishing and reinforcing the sense of danger. Action scenes, for example, or any other scenario where some threat is made vivid and impending to the reader. For example, think of all of the movies that throw in a wild car chase scene, right when the story's pace was becoming too slow. The Jason Bourne movies provide instances where such action scenes are used to generate suspense. Another technique is to ramp up the emotional tension between the characters and or between the characters and some external source. Think of this technique as a sort of emotional version of the car chase scene, where real consequences related to emotional success and failure are on the line. Another technique is known as that ticking clock. Many thrillers lean on this technique when the reader is aware that there's only a short amount of time to find a resolution. That narrow timespan will naturally create suspense. There are pros and cons to this technique. The pros are many. My favorite is that it stops the rider from getting lost in the weeds, so to speak. Nearly everything that can be deemed superfluous has to be cut. Because pacing plays a major role when imploring such a suspense generating technique. The con is that you may not be able to tell the story you had originally intended, because the ticking clock takes priority over everything. However, you can use riding tricks such as flashbacks as a means to circumnavigate such time pressures. But even still, that ticking clock needs to stay ever present in your head. Also, keep in mind that the shorter the time constriction, the greater the inherent suspense, but also the more difficult creating effective pacing becomes. You need to have room in your story to slow the pace down. On occasion. Too much suspense over too long a period of time will exhaust and frustrate your reader. You need time in your story to slow things down and let your readers catch their breath. In other words, if you use the ticking clock technique, you should provide yourself with enough story time to be able to write in moments where you can slow the pace down. For example, a story that takes place over a full day will give you more moments to provide restful scenes than a story that takes place over the course of an hour. Another way of generating suspense is to highlight how something isn't being about nearly as much as it should be, as if the thing is too dangerous and frightening to be given attention. Talking about Voldemort or rather not talking about Voldemort. As an example of this, you need to fully understand the matter of tension in order to be able to successfully generate and maintain suspense. Greatly simplified, literary tension is internal pressure that you maintain on a character. For example, many new writers will introduce a conflict to the story and then relatively quickly resolve that conflict only to then introduce some new conflict. Such a strategy destroys tension, because tension only exists in that place between the introduction of the problem and the resolution of that problem. For example, the reader is wondering, well, they are, won't they kiss? Well, as soon as they kiss, that tension is gone. Suspense and tension are separate things, but they are dependent upon one another. The way I like to think about it is that suspense is largely created and sustained by external factors. Tension is largely created by the character's internal factors. Of course, you can and should fused and mix suspense and together. But I find that it helps to define suspense intention differently because that allows me to examine this aspect of my writing through two separate lenses. For example, I may feel that the villain is generating plenty of suspense. But I can ask myself, how are the other characters reacting to that suspense? Is this threat creating a palpable tension between my character's. Another way of looking at this is to recognize that complex nature of being human. We have our inner life and we have a mask that we wear for everyone else. Suspense is about action and reaction. As about those feelings and private thoughts that preclude an otherwise surround those actions and reactions that which occurs under the mask. In other words, I may be pushing you to overthink this. How about this example? You're on a diet and someone offers you a candy bar. This candy bar introduces suspense. You really want that candy bar? The should I or shouldn't I? Inner conversation is the tension. When you bite into that candy bar, the suspense and the tension are over. In short, your story needs to include those elements that make the reader worry. Well, they are, won't they make It? Will he do what is right? Will she defeat the monster? You need to sustain such worry as long as you can, because once you resolve it, it's gone. In closing, I need to repeat that it is suspense and tension that makes the reader turned the page. And too much suspense intention will make the reader abandoned your book. Think of this as an ingredient in some dinner entree. Suspense is a spice that we'll bring this food to life. But too much of it will make the meal unpalatable. 25. Seven Ways to Raise the Stakes in Your Novel : And this lecture, I'm going to discuss the matter of raising the stakes in your story. Raising the stakes as a way to draw the reader deeper into the story. I'm going to discuss seven techniques that can be used to raise the stakes in your story. The first technique is to make something occur in the story that is deeply personal to one or more of your characters. A personal event, reflex character authenticity. The loss of a pet or a loved one. Intimacy is what you are going for when utilizing this technique. A second technique for raising the stakes is to make something go terribly wrong. The Harry Potter series provide examples of this technique being used. Well, the trio make these elaborate plans and every time something goes terribly wrong, which unravels their plan. Such storytelling assures the reader that anything can happen, which in turn motivates the reader to stay alert and excited. A third technique is to have a consequence. Actions, decisions, choices need to matter. The only way to make such moves matter is to have consequences. Push your characters towards forks in the road, makes him choose a direction, then show the consequences of their choice. A fourth technique is to reveal connections. These are the scenes we allow your reader to have a ha, moments where some seemingly separate events in the story are revealed to be significantly connected. This technique is used a lot in mystery novels, where the reader or detective is beginning to piece the puzzle together. Such epiphanies offer a rush of excitement for the reader and usually results in them getting more invested in the story. A fifth technique is to require a sacrifice. Using this technique usually entails first making the reader care about a character. And while establishing this empathetic connection, you demonstrate how something in particular is especially important to this character. For example, as a reader, halfway through the story, I've come to fall in love with a character named Susie. Thus far in the story. Susie has been obsessed with the goal of becoming an astronaut. Just when she is about to become an astronaut. She disqualifies herself from the program by choosing to donate a couple of our organs to R6 Sister. After you've made the reader fully care about a certain character, you make that particular character sacrifice that special something or other as a means to proceed further in the story or character development. A sixth technique is to escalate. Small problems evolve into big problems. Big problems evolve into massive problems, and so on. Picture a snowball rolling down a snow-covered mountain. This snowball will gradually transform into a boulder. And this boulder will carry with it far more consequences than that original snowball. This technique works, but it's challenging to pull off well, because you run the risk of exhausting the reader when utilizing this strategy. An example of the escalation technique being used well is the movie willow. From willows point of view that is, first, there is a DKNY baby that Willow has to hide from his fellow villagers. This is the equivalent of pushing that snowball off the top of the mountain. Then the village is attacked by tracking animals. And because of this attack, Willow has to introduce the baby to the tribe. This makes the snowball get a little bigger as it rolls down the mountain. Then the tribe casts will out on a mission to find a mother for the baby. The snowball is now the size of a basketball. Then we'll alert that the child is special and must be taken to a different kingdom. Now the snowball is the size of a beach ball. Then he has to protect the baby from soldiers. Then he has to track down a sorceress. Then he discovers that a king and queen, he was supposed to give the child to have been destroyed. And so it goes. If you've seen this movie, then you can see where I'm going here. Again, this technique works, but it's tricky to pull off because of the inherent pacing complications. If you use this technique, be sure to write scenes into your story that allows your reader to catch their breath. A seventh technique is to repeat the risks to the reader. Through this technique, readers are told what is at stake in advance and what dangers may lie ahead. Think of Gimli from The Lord of the Rings, outlining the sequential dangers that are involved in taking the one ring to the volcano. There's a scene where Gimli spells out the terrible nature of each leg of the journey. Step, step. First, there's this threat, then there's that threat, then there's this, then there's that these dangers are outlined before the quest even begins. Doing this allows the reader to get invested in the story for maybe no other reason than through the desire to see the characters interact with those exciting and dangerous scenarios. You should consider raising the stakes in your story. Doing so will increase the likelihood that you will get the most out of your stories conflict. 26. Conflict Resolution - romance: In this lesson, I'm going to be discussing conflict resolution. As a rule. You must resolve all of the main conflicts that you introduce in your story. It's important to think of your writing as the process of forming contracts with your readers. Every time you introduce a major conflict, you are signaling to your reader that this conflict will be resolved in one way or another. And for modern romances, It's a rule that your story will end with a happily ever after scenario. How you get to that happy ending is up to you. Riders that teach how to write romance novels often preached that your hero and heroine need to have opposing goals. Such a practice usually results in creating a conflict that is strong enough to make writing 80% of the book relatively easy. However, I advise against using this technique because it's necessary for your conclusion to leave the reader feeling satisfied. If your hero and heroine are competing with each other, then it usually means that at the end, one of the two will lose the competition. This makes the happily ever after much harder to successfully pull off. Now that being said, whether you make your hero and heroine on the same team are on separate teams. It's usually a good idea to end with the to having made a sacrifice for the other, for the sake of their union. The act of making a sacrifice for the good of the relationship assures the reader that their love for the other is real. Think of this from the other angle. How much do they care about each other if they aren't willing to trade something that they care about in order to be with the other person. Put another way, their sacrifice demonstrates that their love for the other is their main priority. I recommend that you create an external conflict that pushes the coupled together, an internal conflict that pulls them apart. And a plot structure where the hero and heroine are ultimately working towards accomplishing the same goal. An example that comes to mind is the movie passengers with the actors Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. Both the hero and heroine had the same goal of fulfilling a meaningful life. There once are basically the same. They want to feel significant, but their need is to attain a deeply meaningful connection with another human being. Okay, so how these two think about pursuing their goal is different. She wants to achieve significance by doing something that has never been done before. He wants to become significant by performing a respected and honorable role on a new planet. Spoiler alert. In the end, the external conflict forces a resolution to the internal conflict. And they both finally fulfill their need of attaining a meaningful life in establishing a deep human connection. The point of all of this is to drive home the importance of conflict resolution. Done correctly. The resolution to your internal and external conflict shouldn't be accomplished through divine intervention or luck. In other words, the resolution needs to feel earned. Also, ideally, your conflict resolutions shouldn't be predictable. It shouldn't be predictable, but it absolutely must make sense to the reader. It's better to have a predictable ending than it is to give a surprising ending that leaves the reader feeling frustrated or confused. 27. Emotional Conflict versus Intellectual Conflict : In this lecture, I'm going to explore the difference between emotional conflict and intellectual conflict, as well as delve into this subject of emotional conflict in general. To begin with, it's important to understand that you need to have emotional conflict and tension between your hero and heroine. This is conflict that is distinct from the plot and setting. This is conflict that the character is generate from within themselves and would occur in the story, whether the two are interacting and Michigan are on Mars. That said, the plot and setting can certainly worsen or provide emphasis to their emotional conflict. It's important that you isolate what this emotional conflict is ahead of time. Because once you know exactly what the emotional conflict is between your hero and heroine, you're better able to direct your character's thoughts and actions. In fact, an argument can be made that after you have a general understanding of your stories, three pillars, plot, setting, characterization, that YOU next figure out the emotional conflict between your hero and heroine. Then circle back and more fully develop your plans for your plot, setting and characterization. This is because your emotional conflict carry so much of your stories weight that you actually base your plot, setting and characterization upon it. For example, just consider what is involved with emotional conflict. And another lesson, I put emphasis on a character's motivation. Stating that motivation and conflict are essentially the main components of a story. Well, you can fit motivation and a lot of the stories conflict inside the bounds of emotional conflict. People read romance novels to find emotional conflict, not intellectual conflict. Emotional conflict is conflict that is derived from feelings. Intellectual conflict stems from a conflict of ideas. For many writers, the first inclination is to begin with intellectual conflict. This is because when many of us begin conceiving of a story's conflict, we begin by thinking about it. Strange sentence I know. To understand it, you need to realize that intellectual conflict is anxiety that hits the headfirst. Emotional conflict is anxiety that hits the heart. First. As a writer, our inclination is to use our high cognitive ability to design our story. But this is the wrong resource to use when creating emotional conflict. I apologize. But personal emotional pain is the clearest and most direct way to explain this point. When something tragic happens to us, the impact of that tragedy hits our heart first. And then depending on the severity of that trauma, it takes a while for that pain to be filtered through our high cognitive ability. It doesn't matter how logically driven at person is. We are all emotional creatures. To be human is to be emotional. Sure, we are perhaps the smartest thing on planet Earth. We stepped outside of the food chain because of our high intellect. But we are not robots. It wasn't just logic and practicality that forged a human bonds that made our survival possible. It wasn't our high reasoning ability that make coping with the agonies of life possible. Much of our success, much of that which makes us who we are as a people and as an individual is solely related to our need to express emotions. This is what you are pursuing in your story. Your conflict needs to hit your character's heart first and their heads second. I'll put it another way. Say for example, that you have two people having an argument. One person has a very good case for why such and such should happen, and how this person has all the necessary research to support this stance. The second person also has a strong case for why such and such should happen and a great plan for how to pull it off. At first glance, the two arguments appear to be opposed to one another. So throughout the course of the story that to have meetings to try to negotiate a deal. But these efforts always into poorly. At the stores conclusion, they find the common thread between their positions and from there they work out a deal that leaves them both adequately satisfied. This, this example of conflict is intellectual conflict and is not the type of stuff that our ancestors would sit around the fire listening to for hours on end. Sure, these two people can't express a great deal of emotion based upon their position on does such and such problem. They can rant and rave screaming, cry. But that doesn't change the fact that this is an example of intellectual conflict. The problem hits the headfirst, the solution hits the head first. And that is not what you're after. When you see someone you care about after a long time apart, where do you feel the first sensation? Is it in your head or your heart? When you finally achieve a goal that you were pursuing for a long time, where do you feel your first sensations? Is it in your head or in your heart? When you make a life decision, something that you know could possibly change your life forever. What has the first say in your decision-making process? Feelings, or logic? Sure, in this ladder example, logic may ultimately sway your decision. But I'd wager that if it's something you don't want to do, the feelings of not wanting to do it will be the first sensation to arise. Your hero and heroine are like the rest of us. They are emotional creatures. And it's vital that your story gives emphasis to this. They don't need to have logical reasons to explain why they do what they do or who they are. The actions they take don't need to be directed by logic. They can make mistakes, and they can have successes because they allowed their feelings to guide them. Now, here's the tricky part. And the beginning of this lecture, I suggested that you figure out your emotional conflict before you get too involved in planning your setting, plot, and characterization. Well, another reason for this advice is that it is challenging to create an emotional conflict that has the endurance to be sustained throughout an entire book. All of fiction requires some form of emotional conflict because it is largely through this emotional stress that the fictional characters are brought to life. While all fiction needs emotional conflict, it's level of importance varies depending upon the genre. Genre requires emotional conflict more than the romance genre. A reader picks up a romance, not to watch two beautiful people interact with one another, but rather to experience the topsy-turvy ride of falling in love. And this ride could continue as far as the emotional conflict will allow. In other words, if you find yourself at a point in your story where you must resolve your emotional conflict. Or if you find yourself straining and stretching your emotional conflict by trying to rake to little butter over too much bread, then your romance will fail. And you'll have to begin again. Your emotional conflict must enter the length of your story. And to do this, you must link the emotional conflict to the individual characters. Personal evolution. At the end of your story, your hero and heroine should not be identical to who they were in the beginning. The perception of everything around and within them should gradually and sometimes swiftly change in accordance to the demands of the plot. When you find an emotional conflict that is directly linked to characterisation, you'll have a better chance creating an emotional conflict that can meet the demands of an entire book. Put another way. Technically speaking, emotional conflict in terms of a romance novel, is defined by the emotional conflict that exists between the hero and the heroine. However, what I'm suggesting is that you expand it this definition to include the emotional conflict that exists within the individual. That internal conflict that has either pushing or hindering personal growth. You see your hero and heroine need to be individuals all unto themselves. You need to conceive of them as separate people before you integrate their lives together. For, you will have a week story if you base their value entirely upon the development of the relationship. The hero or the heroine on her journey. The heroine age the hero on his journey. But in the end, it is them as individuals to undergo the transformation that allows them to actually achieve their need. Think long and hard about who this heroin is. What does she want, and why why is wanting this not going to provide her with what she needs? What is it that she needs to live a fulfilling life? How can she get what she needs? What are the emotional foundations for each of these questions and answers? How can our feelings and her involving emotional responses guide the transformation from moving away from what she think she wants to actively pursuing what she needs. Then ask the same questions for the hero. How can the heroes presence assist the heroin on her journey? And how can the heroines presence assist the hero on his journey? How can the Plot and Setting help and hinder this road towards personal transformation and embraced love for their companion. 28. How to Build a Story with Emphasis on Emotion: In this lecture, I'm going to discuss how to write a story that provides emphasis on emotion. One of the best ways to reveal your character's emotions is to have them fully expose themselves during a time when they are the most vulnerable. It's human nature to hide who we truly are from ourselves and from others. When someone removes their mask and reveals who they truly are, they provide us with a ammunition with which they could do real damage to that person's psyche. However, after they have provided us with their kryptonite and we don't use it against them. We then come to see emotion as we never have before. It's after people feel safe while they are the most exposed, that they allow their essence to be on display. This has been my experience at least. And if you agree with this, then consider having such a scene in your book where your hero and heroine exposes their core being to the other. And this other person doesn't judge or advise, but rather listens and accepts the vulnerable person for who they have exposed themselves to be. The ability to create such a scene is greatly aided by doing your preliminary work before you start writing your book. First ask yourself, who are your hero and heroine? Deep down, I mean, what are their hopes and fears? What trauma and success in their past most shaped them. And most importantly, what's the stories principle? Emotional conflict is the main source of the emotional conflict strictly between the hero and heroine? Or is it rooted in something external, such as rivaling families that they are loyal to. The more prep work you do on this end, the easier it will be to create these potentially challenging emotional scenes. Also, this prep work will make it easier to make sure that your emotional conflict aligns with your other important story elements, such as the developing romance. In other words, the emotional story and the romantic story are both separate and intertwined. Put yet another way. You need to outline the emotional story and the romantic story as separate components. But check back to make sure that the two remain aligned. For example, the emotional aspects of a story can involve the heroine struggling to come to grips with the loss of a close friend. The deep emotions directly associated with this tragedy have nothing to do with a romantic story, or does it? And the emotional side of the story, the heroine needs someone to grasp or ineffable pain. And along comes the hero who has suffered equally. She doesn't need to explain how she feels to him because he already knows. A good way to bring out the emotional element in a story is to explore themes of human connection. So many genres are outwardly focused. Well, they find the bomb and time. Will they solve the mystery? Will they win the competition? Something that makes romance novels so special is that they are largely inwardly focused. The romance novel gives you time to explore the feelings that are associated with emotionally poignant moments. In romance novels, you can delve deeply into what a broken heart feels like and to what a first kiss feels like. And into all those other new opt moments that remind us what it's like to be alive. Now, there's no way to discuss this subject of emotion without mentioning pain and suffering. As I see it. There are two types of pain. There's physical pain and there's psychological pain. And they both can be used to strengthen your emotional story. Both physical and psychological pain are extremely powerful tools for generating an emotional story. The problem is that this particular tool is arguably too powerful. Using this tool wants in a book could produce the intended effect. But the more you use it, the more likely you are going to get the opposite effect of what you want. If, for example, I'm trying to elicit an emotional reaction from the audience by inflicting physical pain upon my characters. The first time I do it, the reader will likely have the desired response. But if I keep doing it, the reader's response will be one of either disgust or exhaustion. Either way, they will put the book down. The same goes for emotional distress. Although emotional distress works more like a battery. Picture, a reader's ability to endure emotional distress as like a battery charge. They began reading the book with a fully charged battery. When they experienced in emotionally distressing seen, their battery gets depleted. That scenes level of severity determines how much their battery gets drained. However, the readers battery will recharge if enough time passes in the story where emotionally distressing scenes don't happen on the physical end. Unless you are writing for an audience that is specifically looking for long, frequent, and gory details like a horror, then you really need to have a minimum number of scenes that rely on physical pain to elicit an emotional response from the reader. Psychological pain is different. You can have more than a few psychologically painful scenes, so long as you space them out far enough for your readers battery to recharge. If you don't space these emotionally painful scenes out, you risk exhausting or overwhelming your readers, which will result in then putting your book down. Here, I'll give you a real-world example. There are two professional psychological phrases that should help to clarify at the limits of human compassion. The first is called identifiable victim effect, and the second is called psychic numbing. Together, these terms describe how we humans are restricted in our ability to feel compassion. Logically speaking, you would think that a person would be more inclined to assist at 1000 people in need instead of helping just one person in need. This isn't the case. Successful charities are aware of the identifiable victim effect. And this awareness is why they use a poster person, a single person that is in desperate need of your help. The charity may exist to bring aid to thousands, even millions of people. But they still only show a single desperate person to the donor public. As human beings, we will respond to one person in need emotionally, but we respond to more people in need intellectually. In other words, one person in need. Our heart. Two or more people in need speaks to our brain. If you give us one person to focus on, our compassion can be fully engaged. We actually feel as if we can make a beneficial difference in that individual's life. However, if more than one person needs our help, statistically speaking, we tend to do little to nothing to assist them. So then there's psychic numbing. And the explanation of this term is best captured by a Joseph Stalin quote. One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic. As the numbers of people increase, we, as humans lose the emotional connection with those people who are in need. We can empathize with one person, but with more. We usually don't even try. And psychological studies, they found that there is a sizable difference between trying to empathize with one person and trying to empathize with two people. All I'm trying to do is point out that your reader can only care about so much when it comes to the emotional extremes. Show one character in physical pain and you have a chance of getting your reader emotionally engaged. Show a 1000 characters in physical pain and your reader will barely care. Another trick in this vein is to link pain and suffering to the wider world. Meeting that the characters suffering has far reaching consequences. This is a loophole for the psychic numbing effect because you pivot the misery of the masses onto the life of only one. Many of the best books do this, especially those that rely on the Messianic archetype. There's an example of such a scenario occurring in the book, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The scene will rue dies displays this point. In this scene, catalysts experienced intensely personal emotional pain, but catalysts communicates to the games vast audience to link ruse death to the plight of everyone who is slave to the system. Thus, ruse death is made far more profound and impactful by linking the pain of her death to the suffering of the wider world. Also, while I'm speaking of the Hunger Games, do take notice of how Collins gives her readers time for their battery to recharge before she hits them again with emotional distress. Okay. So all of that was about the extremes, the pain elements. Another way to make your story emotional is to give focus to feelings. Romances are largely about the emotional journey. And a big part of undertaking that journey is to frequently reveal the heroes and heroines feelings. When you have a character do something, consider if it's a good place to put a feeling behind that action. The hero touches the heroine shoulder. How does that make her feel? The heroine saves the heroes dog. How does that make him feel? These feelings don't need to be romantic either. Your characters can display feelings for their friends, family, pets, for themselves, for inanimate objects, and so on. Another thing to attach feelings to our worries, suspicions, assumptions, and concerns. Her first impression is that the hero is such in such a type of person. How does she feel when she discovers that he isn't who she thought he was? If the heroine is about to do something that she is afraid to do, don't just say she's scared. Delve into the nuances of her anxiety, give shape to the whys, the hows, and the other dimensions of her anxiety. Another trick in this same vein has to do with how a character reacts to an emotionally palpable event. When you have a character cry, the reader doesn't have to. When you put the character in a situation where the character wants to cry and she'd cry. But doesn't. Your reader will feel inclined to cry on a character's behalf. Lastly, give emphasis to emotional payoff. When your plot points reached their culmination. Be sure to provide feelings that explore the emotions involved in those vital successes and failures. 29. Love Scene: In this lecture, I'm going to be delving into the nuances at the love scene. For starters, it needs to be said that there is a distinct difference between a sex scene and a love-making seen a sex scene is strictly physical and a love scene revolves around the physical representation, love. Now, it should be addressed that most romance readers are aware that a sexual act in any form will often bring about change in our relationship. Even if you do manage to have casual sex in your story, where neither are emotionally affected by the act. They will certainly look at the other differently than they did before they had sex. And since you are writing a romance, you can use this different perception of each other to evolve there once strictly physical relationship into a full-blown romance. However, I don't recommend going that route unless you're writing an erotic romance or just pure erotica. For all of the other romance subgenres. You usually want to make sex means something more than just physical gratification. It can begin with it just being sex for the hero at first. But afterwards, he needs to perceive the heroin as more than just a route to physical ecstasy. And effective loves seen usually resolves absolutely nothing. In fact, it's vital that when the two have sex, that the plot is complicated because of it. What often happens is that the two finally surrender to temptation and have fooled themselves that giving into their lust will somehow simplify things. When in fact, the characters come to learn that having sex actually makes things much more complicated. Or at the very least, the peace they expected to find doesn't occur. Nothing has been fixed. So up until that point in the story, one or both has been fighting the urge. And when they made it, they expected to find some sort of emotional relief. But instead, the act only brought more confusion, frustration, and longing. See, when writing a romance, you're goal is to always be upping the emotional anti. This is what keeps your audience reading. And when you finally bring resolution to this pile of emotional distress, the reader feels both rewarded and satisfied. Therefore, if you were to make sex and lovemaking as a means to resolving conflict, you're actually working against your goals as a romance writer. Here's an example. See that your hero is a guy that can't be tamed. He prides himself on always remaining focused on only what he has control over. Then he has sex with the heroin. He began the act thinking only about physical release. But by the time he ends the act, he surprised to find themselves emotionally moved. He no longer has the same level of control over himself as he once had. He's fallen in love. And there's only one woman in the world that could have done that to him. He then tries to push her away because being in love makes him feel vulnerable. He wants to perceive themselves as being too strong, too important, too ambitious to be vulnerable. He tries to get away from her because the love he feels is consuming him. But then there's that external conflict, that force that keeps them together despite the internal conflict of his need to feel in control. And so as the story progresses, the love between them overwhelms his best efforts to refuse loves gifts. After stories, resolution, he finally admits his love for her. And all of this began because he had sex with the only woman in the world could tame the beast. Something similar can happen for the heroin. For example. She's been hurt by a man before she handed him her heart and he stomped on it. As a result of such pain, she decided to never fall in love again. But her efforts to lock away her broken heart doesn't change the fact that she has physical needs. Therefore, she has sex with a hero as a way to quell her physical desire. But as they are physically intertwined, the act of sex evolves into lovemaking. The aggressive kisses become intimate. The rough movements become tender. The longer they share each other's bodies, the more they feel their spirits performing a dance of their own. As she watches the sunrise hours later, she can feel her heart healing itself. For the first time in years. She experiences a communist wash over her as she watches the oranges in pinks fill the sky. In this newly found peaceful state of mind, she looks over at the handsome hero and smiles. Soon that smile turns into a frown because deep down she knows that this glorious sensation will only be taken away from her one day. It will lead to her experiencing more pain than she knew as possible. So again, like the hero example, she tries to push him away, but the external conflict forces the two together until she allows herself to embrace the love that she has for him. Now, these examples, more or less began with just the act of sex as opposed to beginning with lovemaking. Of course you can begin with lovemaking. The formula basically stays the same. The love-making solves nothing. In fact, it only makes things more complicated. There are some things I highly recommend that you avoid when writing such scenes. One actually used the anatomical names of the body parts. Don't use euphemisms to, even when writing a love making scene, don't have the to admit their love for one another. Nine times out of ten, you want to save the, I love you for the conclusion of your story. I mean, you can't have them say this earlier. But if you decide to do that, you need to have a story pre plotted in a way that prevents them from committing to that love or basking in that love. For example, in the princess bride, a coded form of the words, I love you were stated in the very beginning of the story. But despite that mutual feeling, they were unable to bask in that love until the stories conclusion. In other words, it can be done, but it's trickier. You need to do all of your prep work if you choose to have them say, I love you early because most romance readers are waiting for that moment when they say, I love you. In short, your audience needs a good reason to continue reading after they've read the words, I love you. Third, don't head hop. When writing lovemaking scenes. It's tempting to write the scene for both the hero inheritance perspectives to show in the moment what the two are experiencing internally. But many romance readers skip reading those sex scenes because they are usually so badly written. Sex scenes are incredibly hard to write well and had hopping only multiplies their difficulty. So you don't make things harder on yourself by head hopping. In fact, if you doubt your current writing ability or you have no interest in writing sex scenes, unless you're writing erotica. It's usually perfectly okay to show the hero and heroine going alone into a bedroom and closing the door behind them. But if you do write this scene, I highly recommend that you focus on the emotional aspects of the act rather than the anatomical aspects of the interaction. You can, of course though in discussions of the anatomy here and there. But unless you're writing for a male audience, your emphasis really should be more focused on the feelings forth, obey the rules of your world. It should be obvious to you that the rules of sex are drastically different between a story set in contemporary times, in historical times. In closing, Keep in mind that a well-written Kissing scene can carry the same weight as a love scene. In other words, just because you are writing a romance, does it mean that by definition, you must have love scenes? Again, think of the princess bride as an example. 30. Characters Fulfill Each Other's Need: In this lecture, I'm going to delve deeper into the issue of the heroes and heroines interpersonal relationship. The first question to ask yourself is, what is it that makes this couple perfect for each other? If you're comfortable doing independent research, then you may want to consider spending a little time consulting the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the MBTI for short. This is essentially a glorified personality test that can serve as a tool for you in creating not only believable characters, but also compatible relationships. For example, I am an INTJ, which generally speaking, is a personality type that is largely despised or misunderstood by the majority of the other 16 personality types. However, there are a couple of personality types that enjoy the aspects of the INTJ personality that the other types dislike or don't understand turn the INTJ personality type often struggles with interpersonal relationships, but does naturally at ease with these relatively few personality types that enjoy our company. Please understand that it isn't a rule in romance novels that your couple fit together like a lock and key. Some romance writers actually make the opposite argument, stating such things that if your hero is a firefighter than your heroin should be an arsonist. If you go that route, however, you're still left with the task of creating a couple that will believably live out the rest of their lives together. The choice is yours there, but I find it is easier to make the heroes and heroines main goal align. Because while you must have conflict, it's a harder story to write to begin by pairing the two apart, only to force the two together at the stories end. If you go the MBTI route, I recommend taking the identification test, find out your own type, then study your type, and then research your ideal romantic companion types. Then write what you know, making one of your main characters share your personality type and the companion. Having one of the ideal companion types. Such an approach should expedite your character creation process. You can even use this technique to create an antagonist that possesses a personality that clashes with both your heroes and heroines personality. Write a list of all of the human needs that you can think of, such as physical needs, security, autonomy, connection, attention, sense of belonging, intimacy, time with self, achievement, purpose, status, et cetera. Now consider the six core human needs. One, certainty, which is the longing for stability, safety, order, comfort, and predictability. To uncertainty, which is the need for surprises, variety, challenges, difference, chaos, excitement, change, novelty, and adventure. Consider certainty and uncertainty as being paired and you need a mixture of both. Then there are the needs of significance, love, and connection. Significance is the need to have a sense of pride, to feel meaning in one's life, to feel needed, wanted, and a value. Love and connection is the need for approval and attachment. This is the need to feel connected and loved by other human beings. Significances paired against love and connection because one is based largely in dominance and the other in surrender. But again, human beings required degrees of both. Then there are the two needs of growth and contribution. Growth is the need for constant, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual development. Contribution is the need to move beyond oneself by giving, caring, protecting, and serving others. Hero and heroine will have all of these needs. But this is a spectrum. Some need more of this and more of that in order to feel complete. Now, think of which of these needs your hero needs the most and ask yourself how the heroine can help with these needs. And then ask the reciprocal. I know this is a lot, but this long step is worthwhile if you truly want your hero and heroine to resonate with your readers. You see, I believe that you want your hero and heroine to compliment each other. How does he inspire her? How does she rescue him? Here? Think of it this way. In order to have a successful story, you need to show character development. Your hero and heroine must have evolved by the stories end, they each must have grown as a person. This is a journey that they must each undertake on their own. But a romance is a much better story if the companion guides and assist the other in their personal development by providing what the other needs for that personal growth. 31. Complementary Strengths - romance : A necessary preliminary step to writing a romance novel is to determine what an ideal relationship looks like to you. It's my opinion that an ideal relationship is built upon both parties being concerned with what they can contribute to the relationship, rather than focusing on what they can get out of the relationship. Such as giving approach seems to me to forge a companionship that isn't only based on romance and intimacy, but on genuine friendship as well. If you choose to follow this approach in your story, then you should reflect such a perspective in your hero and heroine. Doing this in totality is an impossibility because there are deeply ingrained genetic control mechanisms in both the female and male brain that makes such a pure altruistic relationship and possible, such as the males superficial visual obsession and the females hypergamy S instincts. But I don't think it needs to be either, or. It's possible to write stories were both human ideals and ingrained primitive nature are revealed. Now, all that being said, there's a major hurdle that most of us struggle to grasp. It's no one's fault except for maybe natures. But regarding this question of what can I bring to the relationship, it needs to be understood men and women by nature, approach answering this question differently. Let me offer an explanation by way of an example. Picture a first dinner date. Now, for simplicity's sake, imagine a tally in the woman's head and a tally and the man's head. This tally functions as a type of Scorecard for how the date is going. Even though the two are together during this date, the scorecard between the man and the woman will look different. The man's tally will have such things as the following on it. I treated her to a meal. That's a point in my favor. We danced. That's a point. I paid for her cap home. That's another point. Do you see the trend here? The males interpretation is based largely on external factors. Meanwhile, the female scorecard is based largely on internal factors. She would be thinking something along the lines of he proved he was listening closely to my stories by responding appropriately. That's a point. He maintained eye contact with me and wasn't looking at the other attractive women dining around us. That's appoint. His compliments felt genuine. That's a point. He made me feel excited while we were dancing. That's a point. What I'm ultimately trying to say is that men and women are naturally inclined to approach relationships from a different perspective. If you are striving for realism in your story, then this different perspective should be reflected in your writing. For example, the heroine tries to help him by offering him emotionally supportive words when she thinks he needs it. But what he wants his for her to just hold him and not speak, he gives her a tangible present. But what she really needs from him is to closely listened to her and demonstrate a deep understanding of her words. An element that needs to be considered with all of this is the matter of sacrifice. Romances that showed a hero and heroine willingly at unreasonably sacrificing for the other, communicate to the reader that the two have achieved an enduring relationship. For example, consider a heroin that is naturally uncomfortable with something that hero enjoys. And the hero is uncomfortable with something to heroin needs from him. You would then show that both your hero and heroine are willing to venture into these uncomfortable arenas so that they can bring a deep level of satisfaction to their companion. Of course, relationships are give and take. But I feel that if you put emphasis on the giving aspect, at least towards the end of the story, you will convince the reader that the to do genuinely care about the other. 32. Shining but Not Out-Shining : In this lecture, I'm going to discuss the concept of shining, but not out shining. You want your hero to have strengths. You want your heroin to have strengths. But what you don't want is for the hero strengths and a heroine strengths to be in competition with one another. You want the hero's strength to shine, but not out shine to heroin strengths and vice versa. To put this another way, you want your hero and heroines strengths to complement one another's. For example, imagine the hero and heroine are fleeing a war torn area. The hero's strength is fighting. The heroine strength is hiding. At 1 in the story, the hero fights several enemy soldiers so that he and the heroine can proceed. But later in the story, and entire battalion is on the hunt for the couple. It's here that the heroin strength saves the two of them. Another example is that he has a magnificent orator and she is a terrific writer. She writes a speech that he masterfully delivers that ultimately inspires the crowd to accomplish a goal shining but not out shining. The benefit of this strategy is that you will avoid the age-old problem found in all too many romances, which is having a heroin that is a weak and vulnerable damsel in distress, it's better to give her assets that make her a force to reckon with in her own right. Another reason to do this is that deep down and female nature is the longing to be deserving of our companions love and affection. She wants to earn his attention. This is one of the reasons why that when a man just ask a girl out on a date without him getting to know her. She will often feel an inexplicable need to decline, even if she is physically attracted to him. She doesn't want to be objectified. She needs to feel deserving and desired for more than just her body. Therefore, giving your heroines strengths that both shines and compliments the hero strengths will accomplish many important feats for your story. 33. Hypergamy : In this section, I'm going to be discussing the subject of hypergamy. This is a pigeon holing perspective that attempts to explain much of female coupling behavior. Please understand that the subject matter discussed in this course exists so as to provide you with explanations and perspectives that will provide the necessary information for you to know how to create a successful story. After weighing the pros and cons, I found it better to provide you all the information that could assist you in creating a successful romance novel than to drastically reduce providing you with potentially valuable information out of concern for being offensive. The concept of hypergamy is offensive to some because it is reductive and claims to provide an explanation for female attraction. Hypergamy is essentially the term used to describe a female's biological drive to establish a relationship with the highest quality male possible and to create exclusive commitment from that mail. This strategy is conducive to creating a successful species. Such an approach to finding a mate makes sense because it is sensible to want to breed with a mate with superior assets. Whether those resources be genetic or accumulative and mailed, it stands above the rest, is not only more likely to give her what she wants and needs, he will also be able to produce healthy children and provide for those children. Many cross-cultural studies have made it clear that children born from culturally successful men are far more likely to survive than those children born to struggling males. As we all know, childbearing and child rearing is an extremely taxing process. Such an endeavor requires a great deal for it to become fully successful. The most capable males play an important role in making this difficult process succeed. There are other reasons for why hypergamy is a good strategy for creating a successful species. One strictly biological reason has to do with the reality that the brain and the testicles both require an enormous amount of energy. And species where promiscuous NUS is common among females. It has been found that the males possess large testicles but small brains. Due to humanities scrutinizing females, Homo sapiens, sapiens males have developed brains that can foster a high degree of intelligence and creativity. Evolutionary progress within the species has been drastically accelerated by females being sexually selective. The smartest and most creative males procreate, which in turn gave rise to smarter and more creative offspring, which in turn raises the baseline for such qualities. So greater progress needed to be made, and thus the process repeats. So as the theory of evolution goes from the stance of believing and biological evolution, this is to say that if women weren't hypergamy thus than we could very well still be primates. Another reason that hypergamy is good for the species is that it promotes competition. Males compete amongst each other to attain mating rights, and females compete with each other to attain the best mate's. This competition creates dominance hierarchies, which are perhaps the greatest facilitators of human progress. You see there's a great deal of work that goes into selecting the best mates. Due to the risks involved. Heterosexual women crave the best man she can get. But that's easier said than done. What if he's a liar and claims to be something more than he really is. Well, nature came up with a solution to that. Evolution made females very good at detecting lies and reading signs that males don't realize they are displaying. But even with those gifts, liars and skilled manipulators can still slip through that net. So nature devised another solution. Women will want a man that other women want. The simplest explanation for this is that finding the ideal mate is very difficult work. He might be a skilled liar. He might be sickly, be unable to provide or possess any number of deal breaking features. Therefore, the more other women wants him, the more it's made clear to her that other women have examined him, vetted him, and he passed their requirements. Which in turn means that he's an ideal mate. Say, for example, that a hypothetical woman finds a male attractive, but then she notices how multiple women deliberately avoid him. If she's tried to procreate or seek long-term companionship, her initial attraction to him will move to the background in the sense of wonder as to why other women don't want him will move to a foreground of her thoughts. This brings us back to dominance hierarchies again and a vacuum. Finding an ideal mate is difficult work. So the easiest thing for women to do is make main compete amongst themselves and then peel from the top. There are all kinds of dominance hierarchies. The biggest, 3R, fame, wealth, and power. But there are others. Many dominance hierarchies exist because not every male has readily apparent strong assets, such as possessing the face and body of an Adonis. So being fully aware of this, these males seek arenas where they feel they can successfully compete. All of this is to say that females are naturally inclined to select a male that is across an up dominance hierarchies when compared to themselves. For example, a young, beautiful, wealthy, intelligent woman will not willingly marry a poor, ugly, old, dumb man. Now, isn't always the case that a young female can choose from the top of a dominance hierarchy. In such situations, it is often the case that the female will gamble on her man because he exhibits characteristics that improved the likelihood that he will grow into being highly successful. For this reason, many young females take notice of young males that display the characteristics of ambition, industriousness, and social dominance. So for this reason, I recommend that you include ambition, industriousness, and social dominance into your heroes profile. You also should put him at the top of one or more dominance hierarchies. Of course, making your hero and ideal mate will naturally attract the attention of females other than your heroin. As discussed earlier, a male's level of attractiveness corresponds to the ratio of how many other women desire him. This is to say that if you make it clear to the reader that other women want the hero, such popular desirability will tell the reader that despite the heroes flaws, he's still a match worth having. Also, before I go on, it's important to remind you that for the sake of plot, you can't just have your hero and heroine get together because they are an ideal match, unique conflict for your story to work. What is being discussed in this section is the issue of desirability. How you waive this understanding into your plot is up to you to continue. All of this implies that the desired male has access to a wide range of willing women from which to choose from. A male that has no other options is an undesirable mate. As a consequence of this, the female enjoys that feeling of having earned her mates full devotion. This isn't to say that the hero needs to play hard to get, just that the hero demonstrates that he has tests of his own and that the heroine has passed those prerequisites. In other words, the hero, should it be willing to bend over backwards for her just because she's a woman. Sorry to be so mechanistic and describing something that is supposed to be a romantic process. But when you delve deeply into evolutionary psychology, this is the information that turns up. And I believe such information is valuable to those of us striving to create that believable happily ever after. Now, you might be asking, what if the heroin as wealthy and money is not an issue? Or what if the heroine already has secured access to status or power? Does that mean that the prerequisites of the hero or lessen? The answer is no. If she is wealthy, he needs to have access to more resources than she does. If she is powerful. He needs to be more powerful. If she's famous, he needs to be more famous. That's just the way it seems to be if your goal is to create a believably successful hero. 34. Hero Characteristics - part 1 : In this section, I'm going to be delving deeply into the characteristics that your hero should have. This might be an odd analogy, but the hero of your romance novel usually needs to resemble a coconut. Metaphorically speaking, he should be very hard on the outside and soft on the inside. And in most cases, only the heroine is capable of breaking through his hard shell. It's a common tendency to make the hero overly effeminate while imagining the perfect man with whom to fall in love with. Many writers conceive of a hero that is sensitive, wounded, and vulnerable. It seems obvious that an ideal man will be just as focused on feelings and emotions as a woman. The problem is that such an approach usually results in a hero resembling a girlfriend. And therefore, the reader struggles to accept him as the masculine object of affection. So this is the purpose of the coconut analogy. If your hero is an alpha male, then you need to make it clear to the reader that he has a hard exterior before you reveal His tender underbelly. The coconut analogy is a good one. But you must keep in mind that in a romance novel, it is usually the heroine and needs to hog the spotlight. Make your hero hard on the outside and soft on the inside. But don't make the story primarily about breaking through that shell to reach the treasure hidden inside. The hero that require so much time and straining attention from the heroin or likely upset the reader. In example of such a hero is known as the alpha. He'll, such heroes often compromise dark past that results in the hero treating the heroine poorly. The story than largely revolves around the heroines efforts to heal the heroes many and major psychological wounds. The stories conflict is mostly based on the heroine healing the hero. You want to make your heroin heroic. But to be blunt, her story is more important than his. You can have the heroin saved the hero. But your story shouldn't be about that. It's better if you have them save each other. Think Beauty and the Beast, where both the hero and the heroine rescue each other from a life they long to escape. You don't have bell running around after the beast doing everything she can to release the prince hidden within. Think of it this way. In the example of Beauty and the Beast, the hero is a coconut, a monster on the outside in a reformed prints on the inside. And only the heroine can break through the monsters shell. But the story of Beauty and the Beast isn't about the heroines efforts to break through the hero Shell. Instead, she breaks to his heart exterior by just being herself. It's the bombardment of her own personal journey that results in cracking his shell. It's a subtle distinction, but I hope you get it. Give your hero a strong exterior and a soft and precious interior. Allow his exterior to be pierced by only the heroin. Make this process a part of your story. But don't make it to your entire story unless you are doing the converse as well. Where the hero is doing the same thing for the heroin. 35. Hero Characteristics - part 2 : Vastly simplified. There are two types of heroes. There are the alpha males and the beta males. If you already know something about the two, you may think that the hero always needs to be an alpha male. Well, while this is almost always true, there are times when a beta male hero is the better choice. This is because beta males possess sought after assets that the alpha male typically cannot offer. Alphas are often loners. They may have a high military rank or access to a lot of resources and possess other social assets. That puts them in a leadership position. However, beta heroes usually have access to a loyal support network that is made up of people that helped the beta for reasons other than fear, reverence, admiration, and other qualities that usually attract the alphas followers. The betas support network is there for the beta because they like the beta. Usually because he's a genuinely good guy. Romance novels that used a beta hero typically have the beta coming from a happy relationship that failed with no one at fault. For example, the Beta is a widower or the two amicably drifted apart from the other. The beta heroes, emotional issues are usually out in the open for the reader to see. If you find yourself struggling to capture the alpha males emotional distancing that it beta hero might be easier for you to write. Such a hero couldn't be compared to a coconut. Do. Rather something akin to an artichoke would be more accurate. The beta hero has other assets worth considering. Betas are usually much more nurturing, empathetic, carrying, playful, and relaxed than the alpha. Beta heroes are also not necessarily wimps. Betas are often in protector roles, such as being a firefighter or police officer. If you choose to write a beta hero, understand that you can make him as physically strong or as intelligent as you need him to be. You see, the difference between a beta and an alpha isn't necessarily capability. Rather, it is largely a matter of how the hero approaches living. For example, alpha males are almost by definition dominant males. Meaning that through a great deal of effort, they have reached the top of the dominance hierarchy. Think of the alphas in the animal kingdom. No male is born dominant. They must earn that dominance. Sure, certain males are born with an advantage, such as having outstanding genetics or born with access to a great deal of resources. But such advantages do not guarantee the creation of an alpha male. In fact, because being an alpha requires a deep tenacity and a ferocious inner drive. Many males that are born with advantages do not become Alpha's. Not in the true sense. At least, if a boy is born a billionaire, we'll certainly be sought after, but he will likely not be driven to stretch himself by voluntarily putting himself into dangerous or otherwise uncomfortable situations. Those situations which are the best places to build character and articulate focus. And other words, alphas are not just born. Instead, they are both born and made. It's both nature and nurture thing. The male must not only have the predisposition to become an alpha, he must also actively pursue that alpha position. A billionaire prints may appear to be an alpha. But if he didn't earn his place at the top of the hierarchy, he is not an alpha. He's just a pretender. If you want to get down into the ideal, then you need to consider writing a hero to possesses the best qualities of the alpha and beta hero. Meaning that your hero is ambitious, competent, has access to resources, is charming and witty, is respected, even feared. But when he comes home, he's the one that loves to play with the kids, attend to his wife, does chores and tucks the kids and at bedtime. While you don't want to make your hero perfect, depending on your story, you may want to give him both alpha and beta qualities. 36. Hero Characteristics - part 3: Something like 95% of all heroes in romance novels are alphas. So because the odds are good that you're going to be writing an alpha hero. I'm going to now spend some extra time discussing what makes an alpha confidence. Confidence is arguably the most important quality of an alpha hero. I'm going to list off a bunch of other characteristics for an alpha hero. And this list isn't arranged in levels of importance except this one. There is more involved with being confident in moving forward with certainty in mind. After all, a man isn't an alpha male. If he jumps off of a skyscraper to prove his confidence in his ability to fly. Rather, confidence is displayed when a man doesn't let fear stop him from pursuing his goals. It's about him having something to push for a self-selected mission that he approaches what they do or die attitude. If he fails, he tries again, confident that this time he will succeed. If he fails again, he makes adjustments and tries again, never accepting defeat unless a better solution presents itself. He's in charge of himself. Meaning that circumstances and actions of others do not have control over him for long or forced him to permanently deviate from his chosen path. So that's confidence. Now to discuss the other qualities. The alpha hero is never aimless. He knows where he wants to go and has a plan to get there. He's typically harder on himself than on others, because the best leaders know that the first person to blame is themselves. Women are incapable of pulling him away from the pursuit of his goals. This is in part of what makes the alpha so appealing. Humans crave that which they cannot have. Getting an alpha to surrender control to another is almost impossible because in the mind of an alpha, nothing trumps their selected objective. Being an Alpha is something that cannot be faked, although it can be mimicked for a short period of time. Pick up artists who are men in the real world that have attained a skill set for quickly seducing women have trained themselves to present themselves as being an alpha male or the so-called bad boy. They accomplish this through fierce self-control, where they are careful about their body language, their word selection, there, physical presentation and their attitude. These Pickup Artists portray confidence. But on the whole, such men are not alpha males. These men are often successful with seducing women, but such activity does not qualify them as being an alpha male. In fact, one could argue that it does the opposite. This is because in most cases, the alpha is so goal-oriented that they don't spend their time learning the tricks of attracting women. They don't have to, because the women pursued them. The alpha male pretty much personifies masculine energy. He is about mission, overcoming obstacles. Certainty in matters of success and succeeding. He is calm, cool, collected, comfortable, confident, and willing to say no. He's fully aware of his high value and therefore doesn't settle. Biologically. Women are genetically wired to desire males that are established at the top of dominance hierarchies. Evolutionary psychologists make the case that this is why dominance hierarchies exist. In brief, males created a wide range of arenas do which to compete with other males. This simplifies the selection process for women because the competitive arenas will reveal to the women who the alpha males are. Some of these arenas are extremely dangerous, which is arguably why men were eager in the past to sign up for extraordinarily dangerous endeavors. Because when they return alive, they will have proof that they are an alpha male. But I don't think they did these things just for drastically increased mating opportunities. I think they were also inherently driven to succeed. Now, whether this drive was determined by personal drive or evolutions desire to extend a genetic footprint is another matter. The point is that dominant males are attractive to women. This is another reason why the pickup artists have short-term success with women. They've trained themselves to portray the qualities of a dominant male, which in turn activates the region of the female's brain, perceives this man as a prize. Which while we're on this subject, leads into a fascinating field of study. Evolutionary biologists believe that women evolved to create a subconscious checklist solely designed to dodge the deceptive mail. These scientists believe that in the distant past, a man could easily seduce a female through deceptive means. Evolution became whys of this male strategy and not only made women highly skilled at detecting lies, but also genetically ingrained a checklist of signs that reveals a mans true value to a woman. A major one of these boxes to be checked is how in demand is this man? Earlier I argued that office are largely pursued by women as opposed to spending their time chasing women. I said this because one of the checkboxes that the female subconscious uses to determine demands worth is that of being in high demand, meaning that other women want him. Evolution is trained their genetics to know that if other women want him, then his value is genuine and she should in turn desire Him to. In other words, the other female or females have already done the heavy lifting and confirmed his high value. The more women that want him, the more women will desire him. So the lesson here is to have your alpha hero desired by multiple women. There are many examples of this. One that comes to mind is the introduction of Edward from the Twilight saga, where it was expressed to the heroin that all of the girls wanted to date him, but he refused them all. 37. Hero Characteristics - part 4 : Okay. So what I'm about to say sounds contradictory, but I asked you to just go with it. The first thing to understand is that in most cases, your romance should involve your heroin, changing your hero for the better. Like bell changing the beast unto the prince. Okay? Now for the seemingly contradictory bits on the whole, women prefer men that they cannot change. Or to be more specific. Females prefer men that are steadfast. Men that cannot be swayed away from their goals. Males with such an approach to life represents pure masculinity and social conditioning aside, males are genetically wired to crave pure femininity, and females are genetically wired to create pure masculinity, whether they're frontal brain likes it or not. Ok, so because deep down women wants a man that is steadfast, she has inherited tactics that she will use to make certain that her man is really as strong as she perceives him to be. What she does is test him. There's an evolutionary purpose behind the use of this test. A desirable mail is one that the female can depend upon to be strong and dependable. Now, he doesn't necessarily need to be physically strong. Rather, he is powerful in a manner that he can assist her when she needs him. The purpose of this test is multifold, but its primary role is to provide evidence to the female that the male is as strong as he needs to be. If she pushes him and he doesn't cave than he is strong. If it caves, then he isn't strong. From a male point of view, this seems bizarre. She is testing to see if she can make him cave, but at the same time, she hopes that he will not cave. Another reason why she hopes that he will remain steadfast is because she wants to be with a man where she is free to relax, to be free to fully embrace her feminine side and surrender to the serenity of knowing that her man has got her. Many would think that the female would want a man to bow to her. But this only makes sense if one perceives the male female relationship from a modern perspective, one must keep in mind that for the vast majority of human history, the male-female dynamic was drastically different than the one of today. In our genetics are very slow to evolve. Think of it this way. Would you rather have, as your man and undetermined demand that caves to your every beck and call or the determined man that will not waver If he must fend off the wolves, tigers, and the barbarian hoard. If we are to truly understand human nature, we have to examine it through a historical lens rather than a contemporary one. We like to think that our highly evolved frontal brain is running the show. But in actuality, it's the most primitive regions of our brain that are in charge. And these parts make men crave feminine women and makes women crave masculine men. Back to the test. Many nice guys will fail this test by acquiescing to her will or perspective. Such an approach seems to be the gentlemanly or civilized thing to do. But it is an actuality. The last thing she wants, she wants a man that she can depend upon to support her during the storm, not cowering when the weather gets tough. Now, while we're on the subject of this test, I might as well discuss how you should have your hero pass such tests. One tactic is to not give it attention in attitude of that as a petty move. And I don't have time for such things can work because it reveals that he isn't combative, reactive, defensive, or otherwise quick to offer a negative response. Other approaches revolve around humor, never underestimate the power of humor. Laughter is neurologically like a reset switch to other approaches or the misinterpretation tactic and the agree and exaggerate tactic. The misinterpretation tactic is an approach where the male spends the test to in fact test her in a humorous fashion. For example, she says to him, those are some really weird pants you're wearing, to which he responds, Hey, stop checking me out. My eyes are up here. The agree and exaggerate tactic involves agreeing to her accusation, but in a manner that depicts him as having high value and adds a twist of humor. For example, she accuses him of doing something, and instead of defending himself through denial, he agrees to having done that thing, but then adds that he does it so much that the absurdity of the high number makes the retort humorous. The objective of this tactic is to reveal your hero to be clever, witty, and otherwise demonstrates that he is too confident and content with themselves to care about her judgment. It should be obvious to you by now that you need to have your heroin test your hero. Even if you don't want to show how such tests affect her perception of him. Keep in mind that she tests him not because she wants to break him, but rather to determine that he is unbreakable. 38. Hero Characteristics - bad boy - part 5 : Next, we need to discuss the appeal of this so-called bad boy. Bad boys are appealing to women for many reasons. One of which is that they are by definition, very capable of passing this affirmation test. Okay, so this notion of the bad boy is actually hard to nail down. This is because the connotation of bad boy means one thing. But the bad boy that females are drawn to is something else. Did I lose you? Think of it this way. The word bad is the opposite of good. Like the bad guy or villain. Although there is a strong appeal to villains for a portion of that female population. The thing is, is that females don't want a bad partner, someone that she could always depend upon to hit her, say demeaning things to her, and otherwise treat her badly. Rather, there are certain qualities of the so-called bad boy that are extremely attractive to women. Ok, I'm going to give a list of such alluring qualities and then offer an explanation of each item to you. I'm going to do this because it's important that you understand why the bad boy is appealing so that you can better portray him in your writing. So let's begin. Bad boys are not only willing to make the approach, they are able to do so in a manner that communicates confidence, capability, and clear intention. Bad boys are passionate. Bad boys exhibit body language that suggests they are great, embed. Bad boys are exciting. Bad boys are not followers. Bad boys are challenging. Alright, so first item, bad boys move through life in a manner that communicates confidence, capability, and clear intention. What would make understanding this a great deal easier would be to perceive human beings as animals rather than the civilized genius beings that we are examining us as if we are as primitive as everything else will ease grasping this point. You see the nature and nurture argument has waged for a long time. And many PhDs agree that in most cases, human behavior can be explained by a relatively equal balance of both nature and nurture. However, in matters of procreation, in attraction, whether we like it or not, the vast majority of this can be directly linked to matters of nature. Human nature. And such in nature puts the qualities that the bad boy portrays at the top of this sexually desirable list. So to continue, first of all, let's just be direct. The bad boy is going to make far more cold approaches than a so-called nice guy. He will go up to a woman and try to engage in a conversation. He will get rejected, shrug it off, and immediately try and gauging in another conversation. Nice guys spent a large amount of time working on themselves into a frenzy to approach a girl. And not only does this anxiety show, he doesn't try again after he is rejected. Rather, he slides off to the corner and proceeds to lick his wounds. Honestly, just that is a pretty big chunk of the appeal. Now, moving on, this bad boy, confidence communicates to the primitive region of the female's brain that he can provide safety. He behaves as if he's in control. Therefore, he is perceived as being in control. And by being perceived as being in-control. Her unconscious brain believes that he has the means to not only provide for her, but to also protect her. Such a perception is reinforced by his ability to express his intention in a cool, calm, and collected way. He knows what he wants, he's pursuing what he wants. And he's confident that he will get it. From an ancient brains point of view. Such an approach to life is extremely sexy. Next, bad boys are passionate. It wouldn't be unusual for a bad boy boyfriend to disk grab his girlfriend out of the blue and proceed to passionately make out with her. That said, the bad boys passion isn't restricted to strictly sexual elements. Rather, passion refers better to the manner in which he approaches life and living. He reveals that he is true to himself. And this portrays authenticity. Vastly simplified. The problem with the so-called nice guy is that he is perceived as putting on a show. The nice guy depicts himself as something he is not. He wears his mask in order to receive approval from a certain group of people. The assumption is that the nice guy is unkind to those he has no interest in, and overly kind to those he does have an interest in. Ironically, the bad boy is viewed as being more honest of the two. The bad boy is clear about what he wants. His passion communicates this focus very succinctly. Next, the bad boy image portrays him as being an excellent lover. There's a fire to the bad boys in energy that communicates that they hold nothing back. The arrogant Cauchy persona relays the message that I want you. And if you enjoy experiencing ecstasy, you'd want me to. Next, bad boys are exciting. First, you must acknowledge that human beings crave a mixture of certainty and chaos. Certainty is that element that allows us to structure our lives and formed a foundational understanding of what this life thing is. The sun will come up tomorrow, Snow was cold, and so on. Certainty is necessary for the human mind. But so as chaos, we require change in order to retain our sanity. Imagine if every day was the same, exactly the same without deviation in no time flat, life would become unbearably dull. Chaos, uncertainty, as bad as those words sound, they are what makes life worth living. Certainty sets the rules of the game, and chaos makes the game worth playing. Well, nice guys offered too much certainty and not enough chaos. This is fine for a long-term relationship where stability rather than fulfillment is the most important objective. But it isn't what gets the blood pumping. The chaos that the bad boy provides is what creates the anxiety, the uncertainty. That tantalizing mystery that revolves around the question of what will this bad boy do next? Bad boys offered too much chaos and not enough certainty, which is another reason why they aren't good for long-term companions. Despite that, bad boys are not boring. Mini could even be described as being dangerous and as terrible as dangerous. It's potentiality will keep the female's brain alert and engaged. This is a good thing because the argument has been made by many that a female's attraction is either growing or diminishing. And being alert and engaged are actions that fuel attraction. Next, bad boys aren't followers. The best place to begin by explaining this one is to start by asking a seemingly unrelated question. Why does zebras have stripes? Your first answer might be the one that most have camouflaged against the savanna. Such an answer make sense at first glance, after all, everything is camouflaged to match the landscape. But after you step back for a second, you realize how Fuller's such an answer is. Nothing in the African landscape has black and white stripes. A lion is camouflaged against the terrain. A zebra is not. A zebra is camouflaged against the herd. It's stripes offer protection by hiding it amongst the dazzle. For example, when researchers set out to study zebras, every time they looked down at their Notepad and backup again, they would lose the specific zebra That they were studying. So in order to proceed with their research, these researchers would clip a zebras IR, or throw some paint on it. And then, you know what happened next. It wasn't long before a predator would capture that zebra. That which made the zebra distinct is what caused its death. Well, after you consider this, you'll understand why being rebellious is so attractive to the female brain. A rebellious male is communicating more to the female subconscious brain than what meets the eye. The zebra needs the rest of the dazzle to remain alive. Historically speaking, the same is true with human beings. We need the rest of the tribe to remain alive. Well, being rebellious by definition, is to separate oneself from the group. Therefore, being rebellious is the near exact equivalent of a zebra deliberately clipping its ear or throwing bright red paint on its back. To be rebellious is to holler confidence. I'm a rebel. I do not fear the lions. I can take on the bears. I laugh at danger because I can easily defeat it. I am rebellious because I have the ability to be a rebel, which means everything you need. I already have or I can get nothing can stop me. I stand defiant to the rules of the wild, and yet I'm still alive. Which means I am the Alpha of alphas. Next, bad boys are challenging. This point goes along with a certainty versus chaos theme. Imagine playing a video game where each level gets easier than the previous one. Games are fun because they are challenging. Bad boys are fun in part because they are challenging. They can't be tamed. And yet to tame a bad boy seems to be the ultimate victory. Compare this with the nice guy who is not only begging to be tamed, he's frankly already tame. He's predictable, stable, boring. He'd give you the world if he had it without you feeling like you've earned it. Even still. He's a broken stallion. The fire has left him. He's just an empty husks of what he could have been. But the bad boy, she doesn't know what he will do next. He has the potential of being perfect for her. If only he'd changed this, that or the other thing about himself. And it's an addicted challenge to get him to change those seemingly small details about himself that quite frankly, he's incapable of surrendering without losing that bad boy appeal. It's kind of like a vampire. And consider this a segue to my next section. A vampire could be the perfect mate. He's forever handsome, strong, rich, wise, experienced, capable, confident, and the rest. He'd be perfect if only he'd quit drinking people's blood. Well, if she stops the vampire from satisfying his thirst, she kills the vampire and thus kills all of that, which makes the vampires so alluring. But the subconscious at the female's brain doesn't know that. Evolution has seen to that. The typical female brain works more from a Beauty and the Beast scenario, where she believes herself capable of removing the monster from the prints. So keep all this in mind. Should you decide to have a bad boy hero or insert bad boy elements into your hero. 39. Hero Characteristics - part 6 : Vampires are the most written about bad boys in the romance market. So let's talk about them. Let's just approach this from the top down. What are the qualities that make vampires so appealing? Well, here's a list. They possess animal magnetism. They are wealthy, mysterious, wise. They are forever handsome, they are powerful, and they are murderers. Now, I know that last point is controversial. I don't like seeing it. In this course. I'm trying to provide you with the truth as I see it, so that your writing can better reach the readers subconscious mind. Because that's what best sellers do. It's a dark truth about humanity that we are killers. We have forged facing eyes like land-based predators do. More to the point. There's a region in the ancient brain that holds killers in high regard in a surprisingly large portion of the population. In the past, there were numerous tribes were those that killed him. Most men are the most desired by the women. One of these with the, Y'know, Momo people of the Amazon. The man that killed the most other men are usually regarded by the Yana mama women as being the most desirable. Not to demean the military, but soldiers returning from war have always been desired by women. Six of the ten most common types of heroes founded romance novels are those willing to kill. These six are cowboys, ranchers, nights, King's body guards and sheriffs. And the other for doctors, bosses, princes and surgeons are certainly familiar with the concept of killing. And to take this point to the extreme, serial killers in the real-world received countless letters from women seeking companionship. I don't know why this is the case. It seems to me that such a fascination with one's ability to kill is attributed to some region in the ancient brain that evolution needs to take away already. So before I move on, I need to make the point that you should feel free to make your hero relatively comfortable with the notion of killing. If your story calls for it, that is, it's best if you make him a killer of the so-called bad guys. For example, the Marvel movie venom starring Tom Hardy spends a lot of time discussing who should and should not be killed. So if you're writing about vampires than I suggested, you have him feed on only evil men. I think if I really dig into this, the appeal to killers isn't necessarily that they are killers. It's rather that they aren't the opposite. Harmless men are not attractive. A man that can inflict harm and chooses not to is far more appealing than a man that can't do damage and therefore doesn't. It may just be as simple as that, that ancient attraction to strength over weakness. But that's just my speculation. Empires. One of these creatures most well-known assets is its ability to seduce its prey. He has eyes that ensnare his Mark's attention and an aura that beckons her towards him, which frankly should be sufficient to make vampires sexy enough. But the list goes on. Sure, he's as handsome as a man can be, but he's also had centuries to accumulate wealth and knowledge. He is feared above all others, which only gives fuel to the perception of his enormous power. And the active biding to suck blood is a penetrative act that many psychologists claim is directly linked to an erotic to act. So yeah, this long list makes the vampire the ultimate bad boy hero. But really, there's one asset that most miss. And that's his perpetual hunger for her blood. He will never grow tired of her because there is something more than just love and passion keeping him with her. It's also a raw and carnal hunger for her essence. He wants to eat her. He needs her alive to love. And so that sought-after tension remains. The excitement continues every day. She remains anxious, both afraid and curious. Will he bite her or will he kiss her? No matter what he chooses, its clear that she remains vivid in his mind. And on top of this, he needs her not just once her, but needs her because typically, He's tortured by who and what he is and only she can give him what he needs. To this point, it should be said that many heroes are psychologically tortured in some way. It's not so extreme that they become the alpha, heal and require time and attention to be healed. But women are naturally nurturers. And being given the ability to heal the hero, at least on some level, can be appealing to readers. 40. Hero Characteristics - part 7 : Vampires possess attractive qualities that most of your heroes should also have. The most successful Hero's usually possess a certain set of qualities, characteristics, or assets. Women, like older men, but usually men that are only a few years older. Well, the vampire gets around this few years restriction by possessing an ageless body. Romance heroes often possess either wealth, power, fame, or a combination of all three. Their assets don't necessarily need to be given emphasis in your story. But just that he has access to one or all three of them makes him more appealing. And it's not really so much that he has these three things. It's rather what possessing these three things provide. They offer safety, comfort, and admiration. These are commonly perceived as staples to a highly fulfilling life. So it's not to law that he has wealthy, powerful, and famous, but rather that he can offer what such resources can provide. Since you are usually restricted by page count, it's easier on you as a writer to just make him wealthy, Powerful, and, or famous. Or you put him on a trajectory where it's likely that he will achieve one or three of these things. For example, in a Latin type character where he doesn't have any of these three, but he holds a magic lamp that can provide all three. Now, there are certain qualities that seemed to make for a more successful hero. They should have admirable talents that they consider to be something akin to a hobby. For example, many successful heroes know how to play a musical instrument very well. The job that they do for a living is one that you would associate with being highly masculine. Such jobs include positions of authority, bosses, equal partners in a successful business, lawyers, doctors, architects, firefighters, police, military men. Heroes found in romance novels are typically not athletes for some professional sport, full-time teachers or artists. However, they can excel at the Arts. And they can't spend time teaching. But such activity should not be there. Main profession. He's never the underlying he's always the one with some clout. And on top of this, he's dedicated to his chosen field. And if for some reason you write a hero with an unsatisfactory career, you need to show his ambition on improving his social position. This being said, there really isn't a hard rule on what your hero can and can't be. It's just that giving your hero certain professions will make your job as a writer much easier. Why make your hero a funeral director, or a garbage man if you don't have to. And to finish this point off, keep in mind that your chosen genre will play a role in determining your heroes profession. A hero and a paranormal romance will look different than a hero founded a science fiction type romance, for example. Something seemingly random to keep in mind is that your hero should have a strong name. Now, I know such advice falls on the eyes of the perceiver, but you have to admit some names just sound stronger than others. And these stronger names are the names that you want your hero to have. Another issue to keep in mind is the matter of attractiveness. The most common cover on romance novels involves some form of man chest. Such figures revealed a man to be exceedingly handsome. However, your hero doesn't necessarily need to be some Adonis. In fact, when polled, the majority of romance readers ranked humor and intelligence as the top traits they want the romance heroes to have. Being handsome came in last. So while I don't recommend that you make them ugly, the real importance in matters of attractiveness Is that the heroine finds him attractive because the heroin doesn't need to be some goddess either. They just need to be attracted to each other. Here's the point. Many new romance writers spend way too much time describing the physical appearance of the main characters. Common sense would lead you to believe that such a course of action is correct. However, other than a paragraph here and there, you don't really need to give much attention to the specifics of his gorgeous anise, except maybe to reveal what aspects of him that the heroin most enjoys. Because this way simultaneously reveals something about both the hero and the heroine. Remember, in the end, the thing you are chasing after is enduring love, not lust. Beauty fades. But what is within us does not. It is making one fall in love with what is inside the other that delivers the most sought happily ever after. That being said, your job will be easier if you make him no less than eight out of ten on the attractiveness scale. 41. Hero Characteristics - part 8: Romance heroes and heroines are not your typical people. In fact, they are called the hero and the heroine to remind you that they are not typical people. Of course they have flaws, but they are simply put, better people. They are kinder, smarter, and simply think and act in a way that can be idolized. They are morally, emotionally, and intellectually stronger than most of us. They are honest, which means they don't lie. Although they are free to be tight vested with the truth, they are reliable and faithful. On this point, there are quite a few romance novels were adultery or cheating takes place. It's more difficult to write a romance that has such elements in it for multiple reasons. Obviously, it clashes with the honesty factor, but more directly, it makes it more difficult for the reader to fully accept there happily ever after. If they were willing to cheat before, then it's not impossible that they will cheat again. So just keep that in consideration. Make their flaws relevant and interesting. If he's obsessed with building and flying kites to the detriment of attending to his garden. Well, who cares? Lastly, hero and heroine must always only punch up. This means that they are never unkind to those less powerful than they are. They don't gossip, find joy in others pain. And when they are rude, they are rude only to each other. They can make wise cracks and otherwise smarts remarks, but they should avoid giving devious taunts. Heroes and heroines are not perfect, but they are better than the rest of us. This is a major reason why they are called heroes and heroines, rather than just the main characters. 42. Hero's Interaction with the Heroine - part 1: In this lecture, I'm going to go back over some things in regards to how the hero should interact with the heroine. A good place to begin here is to make it clear that the hero and heroine need to be equals. At least as equal as hypergamy allows. The hero strengths should align with the heroines weaknesses and vice versa. Doing this correctly actually solves a lot of the interaction dynamics for you. You don't have the hero putting the heroin on a pedestal. The heroine shouldn't be revered by the hero. Rather, he needs to treat her as an equal player in the relationship game. In short, they need to be able to have a back and forth with each other. And not only conversation, but also have a generally interact with each other. In most cases, the hero should not dominate nor be dominated by the heroine. It's easiest to think of it this way. The hero and heroine should shine, but not out shine the other. And this is accomplished by the hero and heroine having strengths and weaknesses that complement each other. In other words, they aren't competing with each other because they can't compete with each other. He is good at what she is bad at and vice versa. To say that they are not competing doesn't mean that they have to be in agreement. In fact, it's usually best that they aren't always in agreement. The heroine needs to perform her tests on the hero. And she needs to feel like she's earning his attention. This isn't to say that she has beneath him. It helps to understand this point by looking at it from the alternative perspective. Her not having to earn his attention would mean that the man is at her beck and call. There's no challenge for her. Their women enjoy the romance dance, the suspense of well he or wanting call and all that stuff that evokes emotion that revolves around mystery and longing. So don't have your hero putting forth enormous effort to impress the heroin. He shouldn't deliberately talk about who he knows and what he can do for her. He needs to be confident, which provides him with the appearance of being comfortable in nearly all situations. 43. Hero's Interaction with the Heroine - part 2: The hero and heroine don't have to see things. I to i. The point is that they need to be individuals all unto themselves. Their identity is not based upon their interaction with the other person. If you have them competing with each other than the story risks becoming something akin to a tug of war, which is boring to watch. Now, this might seem contradictory. But even though the hero and heroine need to b equals the hero needs to be the leader. You see, women usually gets in touch with our most authentic self when they are free to embrace their femininity. In order for her to fully embrace her femininity, she needs to be in the presence of full masculinity. And masculinity is a roll built around strength, protection, motivation, decisiveness, confidence, and leadership. Air go for her to embrace or femininity. She needs to be in the presence of nonaggressive leadership, which means that the hero should lead. Now, this isn't to say that she needs to follow him around like a puppy dog. It just means that your hero usually needs to be out in front. Let me put it this way. I've heard many women say that the sexiest thing that can hear from a male partner is, I've got you. Ok. Now, it helps if the hero is a good listener. This is actually an important point and should be implemented even if your hero is the bad boy type, you see vastly simplified. Females are greatly influenced by their emotions, especially when compared to typical males. This means that the hero should evoke emotions from the heroine. Now, I'm going to deviate from my original point for a moment to briefly discuss the dark side of the subject of passionate emotion. Pick up artists have a dirty little secret, which is to get a target to girl emotionally upset, even to go so far as to move her to anchor. These experienced social hackers know that emotion is emotion and all you have to do is elevate it and then redirect that emotion. In order to social engineer a female. They get the girls angry at them. They make their peace with them. But the girl is still flooded with an abundance of emotional energy that has to go somewhere. So the social hacker steers this passion towards, shall we say, romantic directions. A literary example of this can be found in Stephanie Myers twilight. When Edward gets Bella very emotionally upset on the first day of their meeting. Her emotional energy is then used to make her fascinated with him. To go back to the original point, though, proper use of emotional exchange is a potential Key to the heroines heart. And this process involves the hero being a careful, intelligent listener. The active, actively listening is extremely sexy. And not only sexy, it's necessary, and it's necessary for multiple reasons. In a different lecture, I discussed how females test to potential mates. This test can reveal itself in many different ways. But one of the ways is to make sure that he was listening to her. If he proves that he remembered what she was saying, he passes that test. But more than this listing reveals to her a slew of important factors. She's important to him. She's interesting. She can allow herself to feel safe and in turn relax. And from there embraced her femininity and so on. Another point is that because the motion is such an important element for most females, if she has a problem, some emotional issue that she needs to express and come to terms with. She needs to be able to discuss it to at least release it through words and know that those words were heard. So just the act of her talking and him listening will allow her to find her equilibrium, a place of calm and playfulness. If the hero doesn't actively listen to the heroin, that none of this can happen. There are many examples of the hero in romance novels being made significant because they want and need to actively listen to the heroin. There are too many examples to list. But two famous ones that come to mind is Christian from the 50 shades of grey, pushing Anna to speak more about herself, even though she is interviewing him. And Edward, the vampire from Twilight, being eager to listen to Bella because he is unable to read her mind. 44. Hero's Interaction with the Heroine - part 3 : Remember that the sensual scenes that occur after the hero and heroine have made a mental and emotional connection usually feel more natural to the reader. Now, just to complicate things, it must be said that the reverse is not true, except for very special occasions in the book. The hero should not talk about his personal emotional issues. These special occasions need to be set up and thought out long ahead of time. The thing is, is that heroes need to exude confidence. And masculine confidence is not grounded in emotion. At least not at first. See the hero must be centred at all times. In fact, when he his office center, there needs to be a plot based reason as to why he's office center. So being in his center means that emotion hasn't gotten the better of him. As a side note, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with emotion. Just that it needs to be handled differently with the hero is all. I'm delving so deeply into this because in the real world is an extremely common tendency for males to be inclined to get all of their baggage out on the table too early in the dating process. This tendency seems fine from a male perspective. But the typical female perceives this act entirely differently. She doesn't want to be his therapist or as mother. And worse than that, a major area of the males appeal is his mysteriousness. She wants the exciting process of uncovering and unlocking his secrets, not to have them all immediately shoved in her face on a silver platter. So in short, have your heroin talk and have your hero prove that he was listening. And don't have your hero talk about his emotional life, except in predetermined scenes where it's necessary for the hero to open up in order to move the plot and the developing relationship forward. The hero needs to make the heroine feels safe, cared about an eager, and this can't be accomplished if he does not behave in a masculine fashion. Keep in mind that romances are more feeling based than thinking based. When writing the hero, keep asking yourself, what does he make her feel that keeps her attracted to him, as opposed to What does he make her think that keeps her attracted to him. Also, keep in mind that if your heroes and alpha male, then you can use the heroin as a means for him to discover his emotional side. He's a hard man, always focused on attaining his goals. And then he meets the heroin. The only woman in the world that can make him acknowledge that there's much more to him than he thought. A beta hero is usually already much more in touch with his emotions. So you'd have to approach that emotional breakthrough process differently with a beta hero. You see an alpha hero is stereotypically associated with being driven, masterful, powerful, assertive, superior, dominant, charming, and successful. A beta hero is usually associated with being nurturing, caring, playful, relaxed, empathetic, and successful. So because the beta hero is already more open emotionally, you need to provide the reader with a reason to have them open up more without emasculating him. So because the beta hero is already more open emotionally, you need to provide the reader with a reason to have them open up more without emasculating him. Perhaps have your beta Hero show his authentic softer the heroine by having her accidentally catch him doing something especially good. This could work because a mans true character is often best revealed when he does something that he believes he will never be discovered as having done. 45. Hero's Interaction with the Heroine - part 4 : If your book involves a date type situation, than there are certain things your hero should do in such situations. First, your hero should pay the bill. Second, if the hero compliments the heroine, those compliments should be individually tailored to the heroin. Generic compliments, like you have beautiful eyes, should be avoided unless you put some unique spin on it. He can't be gentlemanly. But this is not a rule. Opening doors, giving her his coat if she's cold, et cetera. Your hero is one that can do such things, then he should. Lastly, your heroin should get his full attention. In a date scenario, if a stunningly beautiful girl walks in, he doesn't take notice. If he has to interact with another woman. He is polite, but doesn't flirt. Of course, this section is more guidance than a rule. The specifics of your hero will determine what you can and cannot do. For example, if your hero is a handsome alien from outer space, he won't know that he should pay the bill or share his coat. So you're going to need to tailor this advice accordingly. Something that should take place after the hero and heroine have gotten to know each other. A little is a scene where the heroine enters the hero's world. Typically, this world is drastically different than the one she's accustomed to. And thus the hero gives a welcome to my world type line. For example, in Twilight, this involves Edward taking Bella on a journey across treetops. Lastly, in many cases, your hero should have a sense of humor. Laughter is far more powerful than it's often given credit. So sprinkle in some humor where the heroin labs, but don't make it slapstick. The humor needs to be character-driven and suitable to the plot and genre. In conclusion, I recommend that you watch the movie Cinderella Man. This isn't a romance, but it will see meant an understanding of the type of hero that you usually want in your romance novel. He's the coconut, hard on the outside and soft on the inside. He's fully in his masculine. He adores his wife, but in the end, he follows his own Lee despite her protests. And he inspires hope to an entire nation by being such a leader. 46. Hero's Motivation : In this lecture, I'm going to do some repeating because it is especially important for you to fully grasp your heroes motivation. In most cases, you need some form of conflict between your hero and heroine. Otherwise, what stops them from having their happily ever after on page two? Because you need conflict between them. A common tactic is to make the hero and heroine compete over some objective. Such a tactic works very well until you reach the conclusion or resolution part of the story. Because if they are in competition with one another, then one of them has to lose. Which doesn't bode well for a believable happily ever after. Instead of doing this, I recommend that you create conflict that allows their goals to be aligned. Your hero and heroine require a clear motivation. Something that makes their actions and feelings understandable to the reader. In general terms, there are about seven sets of character motivations. There's the pursuit of greed, duty, self-discovery, revenge, curiosity, self-preservation, and love. Enclosing. Be sure to make your hero inherently interesting. No one wants to read about a nice person that never makes mistakes and has a governing goal of making other people smile. Your hero needs to have a motivation that is rooted in passion, where he is willing to take risks and venture into uncomfortable territory to achieve his goal. Your hero is the second most important character in your romance novel. But in a storytelling perspective, he's the most important. Because he is usually the pivot upon which the story spins. If you create a mister perfect hero who exists for others, you are almost guaranteed a bland story. Think of the Princess Bride as an example. This story breaks a lot of the standard guidelines, but it manages to pull it off. There is the unusual story frame. The grandfather is reading to the grand son, saying, I love you very early in the story. And to the point that Hero is very bland In the beginning. He essentially lives for the heroine. And if he had stayed such a way, the story would have ended in the first chapter. Instead, the hero leaves her to earn enough for them to get married. And on his quest, he's captured, psychologically tortured, trained in combat, becomes a successful pirate, and then single handedly rescued her as a masked, banded. The princess bride is the heroin story. But it is interesting and dynamic hero that makes the story possible. And remember, there was no ambiguity over the heroes motivation, which was of course, the pursuit of true love. 47. Hero Stats : In this lecture, I'm going to offer more suggestions on crafting your hero. Something to keep in mind is that many of the sensory cues that arouse females are not visually based. A deep voice usually coincides with a high level of testosterone. And thus a DPP voice is usually a characteristic of an alpha male. It's important that you hit all of the senses when writing fiction. While visual descriptions are important, oftentimes, leaning on the other senses will add much more valuable material to your writing. Describe how he smells, delve into how his touch is sensuous yet strong. Alright, so males think foreplay is that three to 20 minutes that proceeds sex. Females, from an unconscious perspective, consider foreplay to be the 24 hours that precedes sex. This is one reason why romance novels sell so well. Such literature provides women with this all encompassing experience that resembles foreplay. A blunt point that needs to be made is that romance novels offer a relatively small amount of attention to describing male genitalia, length or girth, so on and so forth, are not usually told unless the book is written by a male. Several eye-tracking studies revealed that when women look at images of male nudes, they spend no more time looking at his genitals than they do looking at the rest of his body parts. However, literary descriptions of the blood flow to characters genitals is common. And while we are on this particular subject, I should say that it's important to avoid using euphemisms or other clever names to describe in Italia. If your book requires such descriptions, just use the anatomical names and move on. But back to the point I was making about sensory cues. The visual sense is but one of the cues that a woman needs to become fully aroused. Descriptions of taste, smell, touch, and his voice will do more than just describing his glutes that one place beneath the belt that the reader does usually like to see described ink detail. Not to put down my gender, but we are pretty one-dimensional when it comes to arousal. Visual cues are all we need. Visuals only goes so far with woman that meet the needs of all of her senses and you'll leave her satisfied. Hence, the romance novels appeal for you, not only provide a typically female reader with descriptions that meet all of the senses, you also give her a story, something like this. 24-hours of foreplay. She needs to get into her most sensuous mood. Now, that being said, it typically helps to provide a physical description of certain body parts. There are several male features that are usually discussed in romance novels. And analysis of 10 thousand romance novels published between 19832008 showed that the forehead, eyebrows, shoulders, cheekbones, waist, hips, and jaw are usually described, but not necessarily in detail. The most common adjectives for these features are handsome, blonde, muscular, lean, tanned, chiseled, and masculine. There are several common phrases used to describe how the hero looks. These are a straight nose, a square jaw, blue eyes, high forehead, dark hair, white teeth, crooked, smile, sensuous mouth. Broad shoulders, broad chest, flat, stomach, narrow waist, big hands, strong arms, big feet, long legs, powerful dies, handsome face. By the way. These are the physical characteristics that most alpha males Share. And the ancient female brain knows this. There are also the descriptions of what clothes the heroes body, men in uniform, min and nice suits. Usually the tires that represent fame, power, or wealth tend to do well. 48. Heroine Characteristics - part 1 : In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing the characteristics that you're heroin should usually have. The first thing that needs to be established is that drastically simplified. Females are emotional beings, while males are largely driven by logic and reason. This isn't to say that females don't rely on logic and reason and males don't have emotions. It's just that when compared to males, females are blessed with the exposed nerve of emotion, while the male sensitive motion tends to be buried under rugged masculinity. Of course, mail savvy motion, but it's typically different for us. Our response to emotion usually occurs in the form of a reaction. We cracked the pain, we laugh at the joy. But on the whole, emotion isn't a lens through which we examined the world. Females can feel in a way that we can't. It's sometimes bewildering to see a woman reacting to something we don't really feel. It's like taste. We get the sweet and the sour. Males know all too well the bidder and the spicy. But if emotions were flavors, women have a far more sophisticated palate. Females can taste things that we only sometimes get to sample. But we males can see a woman's regular reactions, the flavors we seldom taste. And we often like to see women licking their lips. When we are in the presence of femininity, our experience of life is made more complete because of the females reactions to those collectible and awful tastes remind us that there's much more to life than readily meets our eyes. Masculine energy has emotion in it. But in terms of hierarchy, it's towards the bottom. While feminine energy has emotion at the top. This frequently causes problems between the sexes, as I'm sure you are already aware. There are many reasons why I bring up this emotionally driven element. First of all, oftentimes males will unintentionally hurt females with their words and actions without knowing the emotional harm that they we are inflicting. You should consider making your hero do this and have your heroin respond accordingly. You don't want to make this differing paradigm your main conflict. However, if you do, you will end up writing the big MIS or the big misunderstanding, which as discussed in another lecture, is to be avoided. The point is that the experiences that your heroin and counters should hit her heart first and then her head. An example of what I'm discussing occurs in the story, me before you buy Joe, Joe mois. Much of the beginning of this story involves well trainer, unintentionally, emotionally torturing Louisa Clark. Will has to be confronted by loo before he fully understands that he needs to treat the heroine better emotionally. What I'm driving at here is the fact that it's best to lean on the inherent strengths of the sexes when writing your hero and heroine. It helps to embrace with the genders are naturally inclined to do. Masculine heroes should be unashamedly masculine. Feminine heroes should be unashamedly feminine. Or maybe the couple helps the other find their natural core. Whether they know it or not. Most males want to be in their masculine. Whether they know it or not, most females want to be in their feminine. Males are more inclined to embrace their full masculinity when they are in the presence of full femininity and vice versa. The feminine energy is about receiving and giving love, bonding, connecting, being gentle, humble, nurturing, empathetic, sensitive, playful, and supportive. Of course, this list goes on and on, but you get the point. These aren't the typical characteristics of masculine energy. And yet masculine energy desperately yearns to be in the presence of such feminine energy. 49. Heroine Characteristics - part 2 : Another reason for delving into this matter of emotion is that it makes the story feel more real to the reader. A reader of romance novels doesn't pick up a romance book to explore the nuances of logic and reason. Its emotions that such readers crave. Give you heroin. A strong moral compass so that the reader can see her anger when something morally unjust occurs or witness Arctic kindness when she encounters someone in desperate need. Give her moments to show her compassion, her rage, her joy and sorrow. Sharing your heroines wide range of emotions will not only make your plot feel more realistic, it will make your characters seem more real as well. Remember that emotional conflict is what you want. Intellectual conflict will kill your story. Simply put a motion is the key. Have your heroin filter her world through her emotions and create an emotionally geared plot to correspond to such an emotionally vibrant reality. 50. Heroine Characteristics - part 3 : The next thing to discuss is character roundedness. Your heroine needs to be a dynamic character. Briefly put. This means that she needs to feel like a fully realized human being to the reader. She needs to have a rich and complex in our life who has more going on in her reality than the evolving relationship with the hero. Her voice needs to make her sound like she honors her individuality. Something that you may want to consider doing is getting your character as fully realized in your head as possible before you start outlining your plot. Oftentimes, knowing your characters in advance will not only accelerate the outlining process, it will also make your plot much more believable. A shortcut to coming to know your character is to get a grasp on their emotional life. What was the most traumatic thing? And your heroines passed. What was the most joyous experience of our youth? How did these events make her feel? Think of scenarios that you're heroin could experience. Her best friend betrays her. She wins the lottery. A law was passed that she spent months protesting against. How does such experiences make her feel? None of this needs to go into your book. The answers to such questions exist solely to allow you to feel the edges of your character's personality to better grasp how emotion sways her next move. Also, I recommend that you don't spend too much time creating your character sketches. A fully fledged out character sketch can take months to do, and such time could be better spent working on the actual book. What I recommend is writing a long list of questions and hypothetical scenarios and then have your heroine and then your hero answer those questions. And while answering those questions, keep in mind that ideally your hero strengths and weaknesses need to complement your heroines strengths and weaknesses, and vice versa. The character creation process is a necessary step to writing a good book, but it's also a part in the process that can stall your progress. The point I'm driving at is that you shouldn't confuse being busy with making progress. Asked the questions, get the answers, compare those answers with the others. Make adjustments. Review those adjustments. Lastly, internalize those answers so that you get a good feel for who your characters are. And then abruptly end as part of the planning process. I'm going on this rant because many writing teachers will tell you to write short stories involving your character so that you can fully understand your characters. This method works. But before following this popular advice, you should first consider Mark Twain's quote. I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead. Contrary to common sense, writing a short letter is harder than writing a long one. Writing a short story requires you to be articulate, concise, while at the same time creating a full plot. Such activity requires a great deal of time and effort compared to a long letter where you are able to ramble on and impeded. I recommend that you skip the fully fledged character sketch and just do the aforementioned question answer in inspection process. Honestly, I think you'd get the same results anyway. And in a fraction of the time. 51. Heroine Characteristics - part 4: Next, it's important to reiterate that you shouldn't make your heroin perfect. She needs to be an above average person answer being a heroin, but it's necessary for her to have flaws. Again, the extent of her flaws is linked to your target audience. If you're heroin begins as a perfect person, that she's got no room for growth in a necessary part of having a dynamic character is demonstrating character growth. Give her bad habits, insecurities, and other faults that her time with the plot, setting and other characters will help her to amend. Consider making her strengths contribute to our faults. For example, she's wicked, smart, but as a result of her high intelligence, she's impatient, constantly interrupts and argues against better ideas that run contrary to our own. Consider Hermione Granger or Belle from Beauty and the Beast, where they spend so much time in the world of books, learning things than others never will. But they do this at the expense of knowing how to interact with other people. In other words, when creating your character, think about pro con list. Pro. She's absolutely gorgeous. What's the con of that? Jealousy causes other girls to treat her badly. Her astonishing beauty intimidates males that Dean themselves to unworthy to approach her. She's so gorgeous that she's forced into isolation and that isolation brings with it other flaws. Try to think in this manner, how our flaws related to strengths, how our strengths related to flaws. And then when you feel ready, how did these strengths and flaws relate to the heroes? Strengths and flaws? Here's the thing. None of this is written in stone. You don't need to hold yourself to some ridiculously high standard. Try to relax and avoid letting all of these do's and don'ts overwhelm you. What you're really after? Is it some hyper detailed workbook from which to build your book? What you are pursuing at this point is a feeling, a general understanding, just a sense of knowing what your character would do and why when confronted with certain events. No, your characters to the point that when you plop them down in your plot outline, you can feel whether or not their actions make sense. So relax. Just throw questions at your heroin and listened to her answers. Jot those answers down, compare them with the heroes answers. Consider making adjustments and then move on. Don't get stuck here. I'm warning you get to the point where you feel like you know enough and then move on to the next phase. Besides, you always have the second draft of your story to make adjustments. You'll never finish your book if you hold yourself to two highest standard in the beginning. Be gentle on yourself for everything except for avoiding your daily work count or a lot of time in your writing chair. Reward your efforts. Be conscious of where and how you're spending your time and energy trying to enjoy the process whenever you can. And you'll finish your book. 52. Heroine Characteristics - part 5 : Now I think it's important to give emphasis to the point that the hero and heroine need to complement each other. The hero and heroine are complete people, despite that, they need each other to access their best selves. This is a non-dependent relationship where the to help each other just by being themselves. Such a relationship greatly helps with fulfilling the goal of making the reader believe that the two belong together. For example, the hero is an alpha with a shell. No one has ever cracked before. That is until he comes to know the heroine. The one person in the world that can give him what no-one else can. He is strong. And so as she let in a different way, in a way that compensates for his weakness. She is also strong enough to handle the hero when he's at his worst. The heroine needs to be willing and able to stand up for herself when necessary. The point here is that while the heroine needs to have laws, weakness cannot be one of those flaws. Along these lines. It's important to make the point that your hero and heroine need to respect themselves. This one is a rule of sorts. Because if they don't respect themselves, then why should other people? These are heroes and heroines. They need to act as their title entails. 53. Heroine Characteristics - part 6 : Something that needs to be discussed is the matter of describing what your heroin looks like. It helps if she is attractive because you need to make it believable that the hero is physically attracted to her. Next, In most cases, she shouldn't know that she is very attractive. She doesn't need to think of herself as being ugly. But it helps to believe ability factor if she believes that she has physical flaws. And here's the twist. In most cases, I recommend that you keep her physical description to a minimum. This is because the heroine is the reader's conduit into the story. Therefore, the more you physically described the heroin, the more you distance her from the reader. A reader was short black hair, will have a difficult time placing herself in the role of a heroin with long red hair. The thing is, you just need to get it across that the hero is believably attracted to her. Beyond that, it isn't really necessary that you articulate the details of her appearance. A necessary element to discuss next is this matter of the reader identifying as the heroin. There are several tactics that you can use to make it easier for the reader to accomplish this inclination. As previously mentioned, one tactic is to keep details such as physical appearance, minimum. A second tactic is to make the heroines, actions and feelings realistic. Your story can have a fantastic storyline, which is characters in situations that take place on another world in a different dimension. But if you make her react to what she encounters as the reader would, then the reader will have no problem identifying as the heroine. A third tactic is to give her identifiable traits. No matter how far you distance the reader from the heroine, do her fantastic social position. If you give the heroine traits that the reader can identify with, you'll keep the reader in the heroines shoes. Say, for example, that you're heroin is a queen of an entire planet who's locked in a quest with a king that owns a galaxy. Such an otherworldly scenario could alienate your reader. But if you make your heroin regularly bites her lip or sing along to her favorite song which he hears it being played allowed, or twirl her hair, or any other number of things that you can see your reader doing or having. If you incorporate such familiar traits, your fantastic heroin will likely still feel relatable to the reader. 54. Heroine Characteristics - part 7 : Alright, so here's the point. I promised to get to. The boundaries of what you can and cannot do are often dictated by the expectations of your target audience. In a historical piece, you're heroin should behave in a way that is more or less aligned with our social position. What would be considered radical behavior in the 18 hundreds would be commonplace or even past, say, by a contemporary heroin. More to the point though, a younger audience will often appreciate a heroine that an older audience would despise. The best example that comes to mind is Bella from Twilight, written by Stephanie Meyer. Now, Bella is everything that most mature readers tend to dislike in their heroines. Bella is a klutz. In fact, she is so accident-prone that a significant portion of the plot revolves around her blunders. She's what the mature romance reader calls T, S, T, L, or too stupid to live. Her infatuation with the hero. And the portion of the saga when she deals with a breakup with the hero, are strongly reminiscent of first love. To go on. The hero and the other in the love triangle have to rescue her again and again. Many mature romance readers consider Bella to be desperate, co-dependent, and weak. So, yeah, all the things I said Your heroine shouldn't be Bella is, and yet this heroin belongs to one of the best selling romance novels ever written. So as I mentioned earlier, the rules change depending upon what your target audience is. One of the greatest appeals of this heroin is that Bella is very much a blank slate, where it's very easy for young girls to project themselves into Bella. In fact, the author stated that she tried very hard to make it as easy as possible for the reader to insert herself into the story. Also, too much of who she is is wrapped around her focus on Jacob and Edward, which is honestly a good approach if your goal is to reach the younger reader. While mature readers usually like to see a heroine that can and will stand up for herself when necessary. That isn't a klutz and has a paradigm that isn't mostly wrapped around a love interest. The younger audience often likes such heroines. The majority of these readers are in their pubescent years and are wrestling with a reality that motivates them to long for and appreciate is that the post-pubescent audience tend to roll their eyes at. For example, there's a hidden theme in the twilight saga that you shouldn't have sex until marriage. And that the first time you have sex, you should expect a pregnancy. This is a perspective that the readers in the thirties through fifties don't usually enjoy. Of course, there are always exceptions. I'm speaking in generalities here. Still though, given the paradigm of a teenager, it's easy to see why balance is so attractive to them. Just Bella being adored and fiercely protected by the most powerful beings on the planet is enough for most girls to want to be her. In short, all of the advice in this entire course needs to be held up against the expectations of your chosen genre and target audience. If you are not already familiar, you're going to need to spend some time looking into the conventions of your chosen niche and adjust accordingly. 55. Heroine Characteristics - part 8 : There are what I consider to be consistencies in the heroine department. That is to say that there are features that most successful heroines seem to share. The heroine enjoys feeling attractive. It's often the case that the heroin does not see herself as being stunningly beautiful. This is because you typically don't want a conceited heroin. That, and this is an element that the reader can relate too. Because even the most beautiful women on the planet have insecurities about their appearance. So she doesn't see herself as being Gorgias, but she enjoys being desired. Donald Symons and Bruce Ellis performed a detailed study through which they discovered that more than half of all women have fantasies that revolve around being perceived as being sexually irresistible. For example, in this study, they found that more women than you might think fantasize about being a popular show girl or a stripper that can easily ensnare the devoted and logging attention of many men. Neurological studies point to the primal component of female sexuality. Where men are biologically designed to chase in seduce, but women had the equivalent desire of being pursued. Subcortical Q of irresistibility is not the only element that promotes HER longing to be pursued. It also carries much of the blame of making her self-conscious about her body. In short, the heroine is attractive, but doesn't perceive herself as being gorgeous, but deeply enjoys being viewed by others as being attractive. To add onto this, studies have found that women are far more likely to derive a high level of sexual gratification after they have come to see themselves as being beautiful or otherwise sexy. This is odd for a male to say, but this research seems to indicate that the heights of a female's orgasm is correlated to how she perceives herself. And oftentimes, this self-perception is related to how her sexual partner makes her perceived herself. Simply put, your heroin subconsciously wants help to see how special and desirable she is. Just to be clear, you can make her gorgeous, but don't make your heroin perfect. Perfection is impossible. If you decide to delve deeply into physical description, be sure to give her at least one physical imperfection that the reader can relate to. There are some other elements that I find to be rather common. These aren't rules by any means, but they do seem common. The heroines seemed to go by nicknames that are one or two syllables. These nicknames are usually shortened versions of longer name's. Lew for Luisa, Anna for Anastasia, Bella for Isabella, and so on. Something else that seems common is that a lot of the heroines are loners in some respect or other. They don't seem to travel with the crowd. And such heroines often have something noticeably transformational occur in their past. In closing, your goal with the heroin is to make the reader empathize with your heroin. What you are trying to do is to persuade the reader to perceive the heroin as not only a person she would like to be friend, but also someone she would enjoy being. So make the reader empathize with the heroine and fall in love with the hero. Also, keep in mind that the mature reader is less forgiving of the heroin than a younger audience. In most cases, for the mature audience, the hero can be forgiven. The heroine cannot. So do your best to keep her mistakes within the confines of understandability. The heroine is the story. It's her story because the heroine is the reader. Therefore, if you make the story, the heroine story, your in turn making it the reader story. This isn't to say that the hero is a Kindle, just an accessory for the heroin. He should have a journey of his own. It needs to be believable that he will be genuinely happy with her forever. It's tempting to make the story about the hero, because he's often the force that moves the plot. You must avoid this temptation to heroines experience is paramount. Be sure that her story runs along the plots center. 56. Non-Main Characters - part 1 : In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing non main characters. In most cases, your protagonists do not exist in isolation. That which provides Plot and Setting are often largely created through characters other than your protagonists. There are different types of non main characters. Each type should serve a deliberate function in your story. These types are the following secondary characters, minor characters and tertiary characters. I'll be spending the most time discussing secondary characters because their role in the story is significantly more important than the others. In brief, secondary characters can provide background, a means of contrast, a means to provide a reason to hear your protagonist, speak aloud, a framework, and reinforce setting. Secondary characters can be perceived as being supporting characters. These characters are usually relevant to the plot. Meaning if you took one of them out of the story, that story would suffer in terms of either plot logistics or accomplishing the successful characterization of your protagonist's. Also, just to be clear, a protagonist is a main character. This is the main character, the character upon which the story is focused. I'm using the plural version of the word because stories are not restricted to one main character. If you look at The Lord of the Rings series, for example, you will find multiple main characters where each one has its own depth, character arc, and storyline through which to encounter and overcome conflict. Ok, so back to secondary characters. Something to keep in mind is that secondary characters can become the protagonists of your SQL. So another reason to have secondary characters is because of a future oriented goal for you as a writer. However, it's important that if you have such ambitions that you don't put too much emphasis on these reusable secondary characters. The protagonists need to remain your focus. As already mentioned, there are many different roles that a secondary character can have. All these roles can greatly age or story. So secondary characters are important, even vital in most cases. So it's extremely tempting to create too many in your story. I want to give this emphasis. Do not use more secondary characters, then you need. What I recommend doing is to look at your plot, outline and examined just how many secondary characters you have. Then examined which of them can be combined into a single character. Here, this scenario might help you to put this into perspective. Imagine you've been waiting your whole life to make a movie. You have a generous budget, but you are funding the movie yourself. Actors and actresses are extremely expensive. And of course, you'd rather put that money that could be spent on them, on postproduction, talent, graphics, sound artists, set creators, and so on. So you take a careful look at the script and figure out what lines of dialogue can be taken from one expensive actor and given to another. Thus rendering that expensive actor unnecessary. You can use the funds for those now never hired actors for your own movie production needs. The other reason is that too many characters will overwhelm your reader's memory. Also, for the sake of memory, it needs to be said that the standard practice is to give all of your characters main, secondary, or minor names that are very dissimilar. And speaking of names, remember that a name communicates a great deal. A name like Tony lips suits one type of character that a name like Todd won't, a name like Xander might be fine for a futuristic novel, but it won't belong in a historical piece. Also, a name often communicates the culture that one most closely associates with. But I digress. Another problem with having too many characters is that it distracts from the plots, focus. Almost everything in your story needs to somehow be relevant to your story. For example, you usually don't want to have purple prose in your story. And just in case purple prose is a written passage of flowery language that mostly exists to show off a writer's talent. Now, although this is very rare, It's possible to have a book written in a secondary characters point of view. Some i disagree with me, but I would argue that Nick Carraway is character in the book, The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald is an example of this. I say this because I don't get the impression that the story really is principally about Nick. Although the reader is given insights into who Nick is, because it is narrated from his point of view. But I don't recommend writing a book in such a manner. It is extremely difficult to do well, and I don't think that the pay off for such an effort is worth it. This is because it usually results in deviating away from the main agenda of your plot. Now, if you were writing a mystery where the literary form of the magicians misdirection plays a role. Then you may want to consider writing in such a way. I want to give focus to the point that your secondary characters need to serve a specific purpose for your story. Your secondary characters can greatly assist your story in multiple ways. One way is that they can give shape to your protagonist's. A parent may be a secondary character and how that parents acts with the protagonist, and how that protagonist interacts with the parent can reveal a great deal. Another way is that the secondary character can function as a type of guide or a symbol for a cautionary tale. And this way, the secondary character of functions as a steering mechanism of your protagonist's actions and therefore plays a role in directing the plots path. Your antagonist will usually be considered a secondary character. In which case, your secondary character could be generating much of the books conflict. A secondary character can function as a short-term or long-term object of focus. Thus functioning as a means for the protagonists to grow, will reveal more about the protagonist or pushed the plot along. For example, a loan claustrophobic protagonists. Here's a boy calling out from the bottom of a well. He spends any number of chapters trying to get that boy out of the well. Through a long, frustrating process, the protagonist comes to understand that he must confront his fear and climbed down into the dark, tight space to save the boy. Secondary characters can assist in reinforcing a setting. This is typically the role of tertiary characters, but you can certainly devise a secondary character that behaves in a way that corresponds to their environment. A secondary character can, in a direct or indirect way, have major sway in the plots movement. For example, a pair of knights must go on a quest to rescue a princess from some villain. But they don't know how to defeat or even find such an antagonist. Therefore, they began their quest by consulting a wise wizard. This wise wizard tells them what they must do, where they must first go if they are to have a chance in saving the princess. This wizard is a secondary character and yet he is essentially laying out the skeleton of the plot. Secondary characters can function as a sounding board for the protagonists, meaning they can provide an opportunity for necessary dialogue to occur. The list goes on, but you get the point. Your secondary characters need to be relevant to the story. Whether that is related to setting, plot, or characterization. You never want characters just to have them. Every person in your world needs to exist for a reason. 57. Non-Main Characters - part 2 : How do you write secondary characters? Well, to answer this question, you need to first ask yourself what this particular characters role in the story is. Is that role relatively minor, or can the character be considered a significant third, this is someone like the villain, a secondary character that carries a great deal of weight in the story. First, you need to determine just how important this secondary character is. And from that determination, you decide just how many words to give to him or her. For example, describing a villain in greater detail might be a reasonable thing to do in your story. But allocating pages upon pages of attention to the likes of an Auntie Em type character from The Wizard of Oz, doesn't make much sense. If your secondary character is important, then you're going to find yourself in a potentially tough spot. You see, you get the bulk of an entire book to make your reader care about your protagonist's, you get a relatively tiny fraction of that space to get your audience to care about your important secondary character. You can't get lost in your secondary character creation. So your descriptive language needs to capture a great deal in a few words. Try to make me care about your cousin in four sentences. Are you going to spend those four sentences? Tell me what your cousin looks like or they're more interesting things to say. I'm not saying that you only get four sentences in your book. The point is that your words need to count here. What does your cousin want? In a word? Tell me why your cousin once that thing concise, articulate interesting language. That's essentially what you are after when talking directly about your secondary character. How concise in how interesting you need to be depends on just how important you believe your secondary character to be. And here's another suggestion. Don't think your secondary character as an independent thing. In most cases, your secondary character will match his or her setting. For example, the suburban setting is perfectly aligned with the persona of the Dursleys from Harry Potter. The Gothic and goes to filled setting is perfectly aligned with Mrs. McGonagall and Professor Snape. In other words, when contemplating how to write your secondary character, use your imagination and place that character in front of the immediate world upon which that character belongs. The dark and dismal Professor Snape matches the darkness and shadows of the stone walls, not the bright sunlight found on open city streets. In other words, your secondary characters in your setting can form a symbiotic relationship within your story. Your secondary character helps fuel your setting and your setting helps provide explanation of your secondary character. Your secondary character needs to be believable, interesting, relevant, and pull only as much attention as, as necessary to accomplish these three things. 58. Non-Main Characters - part 3 : I want to touch on some elements to consider when striving to make your secondary characters feel real. One thing to consider is how that character speaks. As we all know, different people speak in different ways. Some speak quickly, others slowly. Some use a lot of slang. Some use a lot of conjunctions. Some sound highly educated. Some sounds street smart, some old, some young, some Greek, others Chinese, and so on. The more your characters sound like who they are, the more believable they will seem. You don't want to get carried away with writing dialogue phonetically though. If you try too hard to visually represent spoken language, you risk interrupting the readers engagement with the story due to the challenging nature of reading such text. For more on this, see the dialogue section of this course. Alright, so now I want to discuss using stereotypes for secondary characters. This is a matter that you personally need to weigh the pros and cons for. The benefit of using stereotypes for your secondary characters, is that it reduces the need for character description. We all have generally the same mental images come to mind when a stereotypical type person is mentioned. A politician, the angry boss, the uncompassionate lawyer, and so on. If you have such stereotypical secondary characters, you can keep the pace in your story moving quickly while you use them. To understand this, it might help to think of just how much a reader is expected to hold in their head while reading. They need to imagine the setting, the characters interacting with that setting, the main characters and their development, the conflict, the plot is a hole and they're speculation of what is going to happen next. This is a lot. So using stereotypes provides less strain on the reader's brain by basically just saying to the reader, you know, that type of person you already know very, very well. Yeah, okay. That easily accessible person is in the story. For example, this janitor character isn't some highly educated person that took the job because he wanted simplicity in his life. No, he's just a typical janitor. And from that understanding, the reader's attention can remain focused on the task at hand. Now, while that is potentially a wonderful pro, the con is arguably more substantial, you see a big part of your goal as a writer is to maintain a highly interesting story. The more unique you can make an individual to more real. They feel. Deep down. We all know that each and every one of us is very different. Sure. We have our similarities, language, culture, the need to be loved and love, the need to eat, breathe, sleep, and so on. But our humanity is formed by the similarities and differences that we possess. I like dogs, You like cats. I like art. You like math. You get the point. The more different, the more unique, the more atypical you make your secondary characters, the more real you make them. But You can go to extremes that might result in demanding too much of your reader's attention. There's a three armed man in your story. He's not a juggler, is not a pianist. He's an artist that uses his toes to hold the brush. Such as secondary character will make your readers pause and forced them to redirect a mental energy from holding the plot, the conflict, the protagonist, the setting, and so on in their head. To just wrapping their mind around this highly unusual painter. This can be fine if such an unusual character is vital to your story. But if such a uniqueness isn't vital, then such a character essentially kills your stories momentum. It is possible to do a blend of these two, where you use stereotypes such as common professions, as a means of making the secondary characters quickly understandable to the reader. But then offer passages that demonstrate this character's uniqueness as an individual. Here, picture this. The uncompassionate lawyer character has no problems spinning his working hours, performing acts on his fellow man that the rest of us consider heartless. But after work, he spends his time at an animal rescue center where he does all that he can to help four-legged animals. His home is filled with all types of animals that would have been put down had he not adopted them. In such an example, this stereotype actually adds a new dimension to the character, but a word of caution, if your characters are so dichotomous, your story needs to provide an explanation as to why. In this story, you have mentioned a nutshell story that explains why he hates humans and loves animals. The thing to watch out for is the inclination to give too much time and attention to your secondary characters. As a writer, it is so inviting to get lost in the creation of secondary characters. It's akin to the joy of writing setting. Usually, writing setting is the most enjoyable thing to write. But after the barebone basics have been provided, setting doesn't usually contribute as much as you'd think to the story. Let me digress just for a second to explain this. Think of the Harry Potter series, for example. The setting is incredibly unusual and oftentimes deeply relevant to the plot. Despite this, JK Rowling doesn't spend pages upon pages upon pages discussing the tapestries, the history of the statue, or that tree. Rather, she explains only as much as, as necessary for a reader to grasp at the environment and understand how the setting can influence the plot. The same rule holds true for your secondary characters. Keep them interesting as rolling does with those living paintings. But even though the Hogwarts paintings can talk, you don't see Harry Potter engaging in long conversations with them. I hope this helps. In short, you need to weigh the pros and cons of allowing the secondary character to move quickly or slowly through the reader's head. To do this, you need to understand what that specific characters role in the story is. 59. Non-Main Characters - part 4 : You may find it necessary to give a particularly large amount of time and attention to a secondary character. So much so that you have difficulty discerning, Is this a main character or a secondary character? Well, such a character is called the significant Third. And such characters are usually deeply connected to the central action of the plot, the story line as a whole, and, or the conflict at large. It's especially difficult to keep such characters in the proper place in your mind as a rider. The inclination is to move such characters into the main character role. But if this character is indeed the significant third, then this means that he or she has a job to do. And it's important that he or she not deviate from this job. You are encouraged to make the reader become emotionally involved in such characters, but their existence should not steal the show from the protagonists. Think of it this way. Forget the title for the book series for a moment. Who is the main character? Harry Potter, Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley. Now, cuz you have the Harry Potter series without Granger or Weasley. The two are absolutely vital to the story, and yet it is not their story. In the end, the camera focuses attention on Harry Potter, and that's the way it's supposed to be. To get them more emphasis than what is necessary to support Harry Potter story would be to degrade the story as a whole. Again though, to give them less attention would also hurt the story because they are as necessary to the story as Voldemort is. And this brings me to my second done correctly. You can use secondary characters as a pivot point for the plot lines. Secondary characters can perform many roles for your story. They don't just need to be away for providing new information. For example, you can make your reader care for a secondary character and then use that emotional appreciation to tug on the heartstrings. A secondary character might be a darling sick child. And the protagonist sets out on a quest to find a cure for that sick child. In such an example, the entire plot is initiated and motivated by a secondary character. In order for this to work though, your reader must care for this character. Why should the reader care if the protagonist rescues that child if proper attention has been made to make the reader care about whether or not that child lives or dies. This isn't to speak poorly of the reader. It's just human psychology. It's just the way we're built. Just so you don't think I'm being unfairly cruel. I'll give you an example. There have been psychological studies done that reveal that we are much more inclined to donate to help one person in need, that 1000 people in need. That doesn't make sense, right? But it does, if you think about it, we are tribal people in our core. It was much more natural for our ancestors to be emotionally concerned for a member of their tribe then for stranger living a 1000 miles away. In such an era, resources were scarce. Life was especially harsh. And to put it bluntly, we had to guard where we put our heart. Well, such as it is for this sick child character example. Imagine if on page one you write and that darling precious child died, I doubt you'd be very mood despite me telling you that you should be. But if I write the same thing on page 20, after you've seen enough to formulate your own opinion that this child is indeed especially good. You will care if I then write that this wonderful child may die soon. I hope you don't mind. I'm using this extreme example because it helps to make this difficult to point. If your secondary character is to successfully function as the pivot point upon which the plot swings. Then that character needs to mean something to the reader on an emotional level. 60. Non-Main Characters - part 5 : Alright, so now let's look at consequences. An important part of story creation is keeping your promises. This means that whenever you raise a question or make a matter of conflicts clear to the reader, you are making a promise to the reader that this question will be answered, that this conflict will reach a conclusion. Whether this is an optimistic resolution or not. I mean, stories do exist where the bad guy wins. Now, a subsection of this process of keeping your promises is to keep things proportional to your character's actions. If your story's villain never physically hurt anyone, he only spread lies and performed petty theft. Then having that villain blown up in some massive explosion isn't a punishment proportionate to the crime. Along these lines, your secondary characters need to be rewarded and punished based upon their involvement with the protagonists. If a secondary character puts himself or herself in harm's way to help a protagonist, then this character should usually be rewarded. In other words, the world of fiction usually perpetuates the notion of balance were acts of goodness and evil are rewarded in kind. 61. Non-Main Characters - part 6: If you are planning on writing a SQL saga, trilogy or spin off, then you may want to pay extra care to your secondary characters. If done properly. One book secondary character can become another Books protagonist. The benefits of doing this are enormous. You want to be required to spend as much time in your next book introducing your new main character because your reader will already be familiar. The establishing world-building work will have already been done in the previous book. So really, you're nearly free to get immediately into your story. Also, It's advantageous to do this because the reader will begin reading with a pre-established vested interest in the protagonist. The problem with this technique is that it requires making a very difficult balance between giving such secondary characters enough time and too much time. In your first book. The book you're writing always needs to be centered around your protagonist's. It IS their story. No matter what your future plans are for the other characters. That said, you need to spend enough time developing your secondary characters in the first book. Meaning that you write enough to not only make the reader care about that character, but also believed that such a character has the potential of a part of an adventure with following. An example of this are the shield agents in the Iron Man movies. They didn't steal the show, but their characters were developed enough to make the reader interested in their fate will then other storylines. So much so that a spin-off television series was created that is centered upon these once secondary characters. Think of it this way. Imagine a spotlight on the stage that always shines on the protagonist. These secondary characters that will one day become main characters never steal that spotlight for the protagonist. They merely share the light that is shining down upon the protagonist. Lastly, something to consider when planning to use a secondary character as a future protagonist is to raise a question regarding that secondary character that you leave on answered. This important open-ended question will motivate your reader to pick up your next book to find the answer to this question. This question needs to be interesting and unrelated to the current book. However, when you break the rule of keeping your promises, you need to have a clear reason as to why. Alright, so that about wraps it up for secondary characters. 62. Non-Main Characters - part 7 : It's likely that minor and tertiary characters will have a place in your story. Minor characters are essentially just pieces of the setting. A butler asking for the protagonists, coat, a bus boy, two tables over. Tertiary characters are basically one notch above setting characters. They typically only appear once in the story. Their role in the plot isn't vital. They can't have speaking parts, but such performances tend to exist to reinforce the plot rather than to redirect it. In almost all cases, you want to use as few characters as you possibly can. Your final draft needs to be as concise as possible. So you are only making your editing and redrafting job more difficult if you're storing includes too many superfluous or extraneous characters. In other words, use minor and tertiary characters only as you need them. 63. Withholding the "I Love You": In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing the notion of love and why the declaration of love needs to be said towards the end of the story. The first thing to do is to distinguish the difference between love and lust. As soon as your hero and heroine see each other, they should have an instant physical attraction. This isn't to say that they should like each other. In fact, in many cases, they shouldn't like each other at the start. But this doesn't stop them from enjoying the other's physical appearance. Many amateur romance writers are well-aware of this need for the two to be instantly attracted to each other. The problem is that they make the mistake of taking this notion to the next level way too quickly. You've heard of instant love. Well, what I'm speaking of is instant lust. This is a potential error for many reasons. The main one being that first and foremost, a romance novel is based upon the emotional story. Your story risks losing its emotional quality when you begin by basing the story upon physical desire. Another problem with the install cost approach is that it essentially removes the force that prevents them from committing to each other. The romance plot is enlarge part, the pushing and pulling of the blossoming relationship. If they are willing to have a physical relationship in the first chapter, then the force that is supposed to be pushing the two apart feels less convincing to the reader. You would be hard-pressed to generate a powerful, unbelievable conflict, to be able to generate a convincing emotional story. After these, to begin their story with insta lust. Also, as we all know, lust is not love. Romance is a love story. Lust is just a physical thing. Again, this isn't to say that these two shouldn't want to be with each other physically. Please understand that having lust in your story is probably inevitable. But it's one thing to use lust as a tool for pushing and pulling your characters apart. It's something else debased are happily ever after upon it. For a romance novel to work, you need a plot that leans more on the matters of the heart then upon physical desire. Ok, so that's instilled lust. Let's talk about insta, love. As a male, I feel that I must address a way that the perception of love differs between the genders. Every female I've asked has told me that they believed that love at first sight doesn't exist. I don't enjoy reducing love to a strictly biological element. But if you study evolutionary psychology, you'll find that it makes sense that women would perceive love at first sight as impossible. Biologically speaking, the argument can be made that love is a prerequisite for a successful procreation. Lust is not enough to successfully bring a child up in the world where it can survive on its own. Historically speaking, the survival rate of children drastically increased when both the mother and father remained in the child's life. To be blunt, This means that the mother and father neat to be able to tolerate each other's company until the child came with relative age. Again, biologically speaking, this is the perceived purpose of love. If you want to explore this topic further on your own, then I suggest starting your research by studying the hormone named oxytocin. Back to the point though, the burden of procreation falls heavily upon the woman. The ancient parts of her brain is aware that falling in love can result in a multiple year commitment in the form of a child. From an evolutionary psychology perspective. This explains why so many women do not believe in love at first sight. Men, however, have a different relationship with the procreation process. Due to this, mails can become filled with lust in extremely dangerous situations. A time when most women cannot. Also, many of us can fall in love at first sight. I mean, me might not fall in love at first sight, but there's more than a few of us that will fall in love at a speed that most women can't understand. I just feel like I need to say all of this. But ultimately, does it matter? Most romance readers are women, and women on average, are repelled by stories involving love at first sight. So the point is that you should not have love at first sight in your book. Also to this point, in most cases, you shouldn't have your hero fallen love at a speed that the reader would have difficulty believing. If you make him fall in love with her too quickly, you risk giving him a stalker vibe, a needy vibe, and otherwise, a non alpha persona. Also, while the heroine can grasp is accelerated lust, she's less likely to accept or enjoy the fact that he's willing to quickly hand her his heart. A common tactic is just to have the hero and heroine falling in love at basically the same rate. The final and most important point to make that in the majority of cases, that romance is climax occurs when the two speak the words, I love you to each other. In many cases, there are two conclusions to a romance novel. The conclusion that comes after the resolution to the conflict, and the final conclusion where the two fully commit to each other and go off into their happily ever after. So if early in the story, you have the hero and heroine tell each other that they loved the other. You're making your job as a romance writer much more difficult because you're robbing yourself with that satisfying resolution that most readers will finish the novel to reach. 64. Conflict and the Brain - part 1: Now we are going to examine the human brain when it encounters conflict. There are stark differences between the male and female brain. When it comes to conflict. Males have larger processors in the most ancient parts of the brain. These primitive regions of the brain detect fear and triggers aggression. This may help to explain why males have the ability to go from a state of calm to a brutal fistfight in almost no time flat. On the flip side, by enlarge, the female brain is designed to defuse conflict. Possibly due to ancient wiring. Females can experience tremendous fear in situations where males do not. Today's female brain can register economic problems at the same level of intensity as a man does an alley Knife Fight. Generally speaking, in matters of conflict, the male brain is oriented towards immediate concerns, while the female brain is geared towards long term considerations. Obviously, this isn't to say that men can't be concerned about long-term conflict and females are untroubled by immediate threats. What are little boys made of? Snips and snails and puppy dog tails. That's what little boys are made of. What a little girls made of, sugar and spice and all things nice. That's what little girls are made of. Well as fun as this familiar poem is to say, it isn't accurate. While girls do not demonstrate the physical aggression that boys do, girls still have an aggressive nature that is oriented in a primarily non-physical way. Girls are far superior when it comes to developing social skills and emotional intelligence. According to my extensive research, it is highly common for girls to use these intellectual resources to their advantage. The trick that girls learn to play is to simultaneously get what she wants while at the same time not destroying relationships with others. As a male, I call this plotting. But that isn't accurate because while boys are studying their body and how to effectively use it, girls are studying communication, relationships and how to effectively use these skills. A boy may start a fight to get what he wants, and a girl may use relationships and communication to get what she wants. For most females, power is largely derived from the social group. This is a big reason why most females spent a large amount of time speaking with other females. These frequent communications offer practice for the girls to hone their communication skills learned from others, forge close bonds. And I dare say even practice manipulative tactics. Such bonds allow her to feel protected and empowered. I have no doubt that the female experience can be rough. My research makes it clear that a girls teenage years can be especially harsh. So if you're writing a young adult romance, I suggest you explore the teenage brain further. There's a lot of neurological changes taking place during those years that should be reflected in your book. Even if you disagree with these words, you should keep in mind that a complex and potentially devious heroin is far more interesting to the reader. Even if you perceive females as being composed of Sugar and Spice at all things nice, you should understand that such a characterization comes off as uninteresting to the reader. At the very least, you want to create a heroin that is capable of inflicting real damage to others but chooses not to. I just thought of a better way to explain the difference between how the male and female brain interact with conflict. Fight or flight. You know this reference, right? When a person encounters at threat, the immediate reaction is one, a fight or flight. Well, new studies reveal that this fight or flight reaction is largely a male reaction. Both sexes have an immediate release of neurochemicals when a stark threat is introduced. However, according to Dr. Shelly Taylor of UCLA, this fight aspect of the fight or flight process is not of the female brain because females are not evolutionarily speaking, typically capable of singlehandedly physically fending off a threat. Also, flights may not be a good response either because that would often entail abandoning her child. Put another way while making quickly spring into physical aggression. As seen in the fight response. The female aggression circuitry is far more emotional, verbal, and cognitively oriented. A pregnant or nursing mother doesn't really have the option to escape a threat by fleeing. Therefore, the female brains approach to the fight or flight response is based upon the female ability to think long term. The female is not hit with the fight or flight threat reaction the same way as it hits males. This is because the female has already prepared for such a threat to the social bonds that she's been diligently forging. She has warned ahead of time by an ally, she's protected by those that she is bounded with. Her movement is aided by friends and family. This feminine strategy is termed tend and befriend. And while seemingly based in a place of mutual peace and prosperity, it is argued that it is really a self-defense in preservation mechanism. Does that make it clear for you? Let me put it this way. If a powerful, aggressive male is trying to force himself on an unwilling female, that's female will have already forged strong emotional ties with multiple other females. The multiple females will have the combined strength to be able to fend off that threatening mail. Think of that planet of the apes scene where one stake is shown to be weak and is easily broken. But putting a bundle of sticks together is strong in unbreakable. I'm not saying that females are weak. On the contrary, this is just one of the many approaches that makes women very strong. Also, this reliance on the community for support is why females can be underhanded when attacking other females. Like starting rumors and such. The female wants to rise up the dominance hierarchy while simultaneously not destroying the community upon what she realized on for her strength. My hope is that having all of this knowledge will age your writing by giving you the ability to add realism to your story. However, you need to keep in mind that even though it is scientifically argued that females can derive a great deal of strength from community. You don't want to write a book that is full of secondary characters. The more characters you have after a certain point, the more diluted your book becomes. So be careful when implementing this information. There is an entire section on the use of secondary characters. All right? What I've been discussing is relevant to what has been more or less than norm for much of history. However, for the sake of accuracy, I'm forced to add an amendment here. And you can probably ignore this information if you're writing for an older generation. Social media has drastically changed the dynamic of how females communicate and attack one another. For example, these technology-based attacks aren't what I would consider clever or covert. They are incredibly overt, brutal. And the assaults tend to be structured in a way to ruin a person's reputation. So I guess what I'm saying is that you need to tailor your understanding based upon your target audience. If you are writing for millennials or younger, you may need to do some independent research. Internet-based technology has thrown humanity into uncharted territory. Researchers are making discoveries all the time as to how such technologies are altering or otherwise disrupting our behavior. 65. Conflict and the Brain - anger - part 2 : Now, Anger is an interesting subject to study. Males and females have a different relationship with anger. The amygdala is larger and men, the aggression, fear, and anger center of the prefrontal cortex is relatively larger in women. This physiological difference may result in a different relationship with anger. While men can be quicker to anger. Because at this physiological difference and increased testosterone levels, women's interaction with anger is typically less direct. It is reportedly common for females to bite their tongue during times when a male would demonstrate hostility. Scientists explain that women bite their tongue because of the female brains tendency to think ahead, the female brain is largely geared to avoid conflict and thus hush anger. This isn't to say that females don't get angry or even express that anger. What I'm saying is that a female will tend to second guess, acting out on anger when a male would simply act on that anger. Evolutionarily speaking, the female had more to lose when acting out on anger. Anger was a resource for males. Acting upon it could move them up to dominance hierarchy. Not reacting to anger was a better way for females to move up the dominance hierarchy. Because historically speaking, the females source of power was largely derived from forging a maintaining relationships. That said, keep in mind that there is a difference between anger and anxiety. While men are quicker to anger, women are quicker to anxiety. This makes sense because men are by and large designed to think about the short term. While women tend to think about the long-term. Anger is based on the immediate and anxiety is based on the contemplation about the future. When writing, keep in mind that this differing approach to anger can cause problems in relationships. It will also help to create more realistic characters. Show the heroine thinking twice during infuriating scenes. Show the hero being reactive to angering scenarios. Should the hero thinking about the immediate concerns and the heroine thinking about the concerns of the future. 66. The Difference Between the Male and Female Brain : In this lesson, I'm going to make a comparison between the male and female brain. To begin with, the male and female brains process stimulus differently. And example should clarify this point. A study was done in Germany with a male and female brains are being scanned while the people mentally rotate it, three-dimensional shapes in their head. The concluding performance was the same between the males and females. However, there were significant sex-specific differences in the brain circuits that were activated while the tasks were being completed. In other words, while the men and women arrived at the same conclusion on genderless based questions, the manner in which they arrived at those answers were the result of differing brain activity. And this particular study, the visual identification regions of the brain, were far more active in women. This means that while a more detailed analysis was done by the female subjects, the main completed the task faster. This is relevant to writing because when you show your hero and heroine thinking, you should have them cognitively approach a solution differently. Another difference is that boys and girls play differently. Girls take turns while playing far more frequently than boys do. Young girls also tend to play in nurturing, caregiving, and otherwise relationship forging based play. Boys play it resembles little concern about relationships and more about the toy or game itself with a particular emphasis on moving up the dominance hierarchy, such as king of the mountain type play. As girls age, the estrogen pushes women to interact more with peers and concern themselves with issues that males typically don't. Females get a large dopamine and oxytocin rush when they forge an intimate connection. Males on the whole do not. This should help to explain why girlfriends tend to want to talk with their boyfriend or on the phone for hours when the boyfriend is longing to hang up the phone. The males are version isn't a matter of attraction. He just isn't getting the pleasant hormonal drip that his girlfriend is during these phone conversations. In fact, his testosterone is pushing him in the opposite direction. Testosterone has been shown to reduce an interest in talking and socializing in general, except for matters directly related to the dominant hierarchy and procreation. When envisioning the difference between how the male and female brain process information, it helps to picture the emotional circuitry in the male's brain as resembling winding country roads. While the females emotional circuitry resemble superhighways. The University of Michigan found that females use both sides of the brain when processing and motion, while males just use one. The neural connections are also far more extensive and active. The result of this means that in comparison to men, most women are geniuses in matters of emotion. Females can recall emotional events far more vividly than men can also do to exercise mirror neurons. Women tend to appear to have the ability to perform mind-reading and short mirror neurons allow one person to field experiences of another by feeling the experiences of another, that person is able to get an educated guess as to what the other person is thinking. Therefore, it is totally okay to make your heroin part mind reader if you so choose. Most male brains tend to strive to avoid emotion. Researchers now believe that there is a major reason why females are so quick to cry relationship type situations. Evolution has arguably taught the female brain that in order to get through to the emotionally dense male brain, she has to do something drastic that demands his attention. Not only do tiers get through to the mail, his brains dislike the motion forces him to spring into action to get the flow of tears to stop. In other words, a female's tears actually cause the male to feel brain pain. This is interesting because females are so attuned to emotion and subtle facial expressions that they can read emotional language very easily. Many women get upset with the males inability to read her emotional distress. Most women interpret this to mean that he is disinterested when it's more likely that he isn't aware of her emotional distress. Often tears are remedy to this oblivious snus. Keep in mind that scientists are increasingly agreeing that when considering human behavior, it isn't a question of nature or nurture. It is both nature and nurture. So while I discussed the differences between the male and female brain, you should keep in mind that a character's backstory also plays an important role in shaping who the character is and how she or he will respond to plot points. Keep the essence of this information in mind when writing your characters. For example, a mature female romance writers will often make their hero as she believes she pictures her ideal man to be. This hero would be attuned to emotion. You will be able to read the heroine subtle emotional cuz he will enjoy long conversations about feelings. And the heroin would not have to resort to tears to get his emotional attention. But keep in mind that the readers subconscious is reading right alongside the contemporary brain. Meaning that if the hero isn't acting as the ancient brain knows how an alpha male would behave, then the hero will feel inauthentic to the reader. Does feminized hero may seem wonderful on the surface, but the readers subconscious will refuse to perceive him as an ideal mate. In short, you are learning about the brain in this section to assist you in making the heroes and heroines more believable so that the readers subconscious doesn't tell your audience to stop reading your book. 67. Brain In Love : In this lecture, I'm going to discuss how the human brain reacts to being in love. And important point to keep in mind is that the brain desperately wants to be in love. A brain that isn't a throes of infatuation type love is considered by scientists to be a brain that is existing in a different brain state as compared to a brain that is not involved in romantic love. Certain regions of the brain become largely deactivated during this time of adoration. The amygdala, which is the region of the brain that functions as the fear alert system. And the anterior cingulate cortex, which is the region of the brain that does much of the worrying and critical thinking get largely the activated. This means that the ability to logically scrutinized the partner is severely diminished. This effect is similar to what happens to the brain when a person consumes the drug, ecstasy. Early love produces results in the brain that are also similar to what happens in the brain when one takes amphetamines, cocaine, and opiates. This phase tends to last about six to eight months. During this period of time, that person may actually be addicted to love. When the two are physically apart. It is common for actual pain to occur. While this pain may not feel like drug withdrawal. Studies of the brain revealed that it is indeed very similar to drug withdrawal. As soon as the partners reignite and physically embrace, these withdrawal symptoms quickly abate. An example of this is the well known expression that absence makes the heart grow fonder. This saying is based largely on the reaction to oxytocin and dopamine. Withdraw. Speaking personally for a moment. I struggled to understand the modus operand Day of the female brain. I read book after book on the subject so as to become knowledgeable on a matter that brought me so much confusion. So when I explained the female brain, please understand that this isn't a matter of my personal opinion. Also, please don't be offended by me using the term Female Brain. I'm speaking strictly biologically here. I'm hoping that you are already aware that there's ample evidence proving that the female and male brain are not identical. When a female hugs or cuddles a mail for a prolonged period of time, the brain releases oxytocin. I specify female here because this oxytocin release is especially pronounced in females. If you do not know what oxytocin is, just consider it as an important love and bonding hormone. Put it this way. The drug that forces mothers to have head over heels infatuation with their newborn is largely because of oxytocin. Also, it is because of oxytocin that many mothers tell their daughters to not physically state too close to their new boyfriend. Being too close to their new boyfriend. And will result in the release of oxytocin, which will in turn dial down the parts of the brain that would logically scrutinize the potential mate. Let me put it a different way. There was an experiment in Switzerland where two groups of investors were given a nasal spray to use prior to a pitch. The investors that inhale the oxytocin offered up twice the funds as those that breathed in the placebo. To put it simplistically, oxytocin turns off the natural distrust in strangers by activating the brains trust circuits. Now, this matter is only intensified by the facts that progesterone and estrogen increase the oxytocin based bonding effect. A female brain in love will often have the parts of the brain that regulate caution and aversion turned off. In other words, a female brain in love struggles to be skeptical about the partner. Much of this is true for the male brain as well. As time progresses, this infatuation phase diminishes and the brain controlling chemicals are gradually reduced. During this time, the female brain is coming to incorporate the partner into her own self-image via the brain's attachment and emotional memory circuitry. In other words, the withdrawal symptoms of being physically apart are drastically lessened. Many people interpret this diminishment of Hot and Heavy love to mean that the relationship is on the decline. However, from a neurological perspective, all that is happening is that the brain is forming connections that are oriented towards a more enduring place of connection, calm and peace. This is known as the attachment network. And as distinct from the previous situation where the brain was loved crazy, so to speak. In short, during this time in the relationship, the brain is still oriented towards love, but it no longer resembles a drug addiction. This relationship still evokes the release of dopamine and oxytocin so as to keep the coupled together. The difference is that the chemicals are largely released in different parts of the brain than where they were previously. A simple way to understand this is to think of it in evolutionary terms. The first phase is to get to people deeply in love so that they make a baby. Now, when the baby is born, the parents cannot still be deeply infatuated with one another. If they were, then the baby's chance at survival would diminish because it would be ignored while the parents were busy frolicking together. But even though the parents are no longer addicted to each other, so to speak, they are still deeply attached to each other, which makes sense in evolutionary terms. The baby's chance of survival increases if both parents are sticking around to ten to the child. Both the female and male release oxytocin during the relationship. This chemical is essential for the two to remain happily together. Females produce more of this and more readily than men. Men rely largely on both oxytocin and vasopressin to remain transfixed upon his mate. Men have more vasopressin receptors, and vasopressin is used in the male brain mostly to boost social bonding and parenting. Females use mostly estrogen. For this purpose. I could get all scientific right now and explain my research that delves into the complex brain activities that occur in the male and female brain during the various phases of the relationship. But this is a writing course and he didn't come here to learn neurology. So I'll cut to the part of the science that is relevant to writing romance. It's really simple actually. The two must always be touching each other. Him rubbing her feet, she rubbing his back. The two holding hands, kissing, exercising together, et cetera. Without these frequent physical connections, the release of the pair bonding hormones are increasingly reduced. Okay, so what you really need to walk away from this lesson understanding is that you should consider making your characters behave in a manner that is consistent with human neurology. Now, this is fiction, so you don't need to have your character's acting like loved drug addicts in overlooking each other's flaws uttered, they have been bitten by the love bug. But you should keep this science of how the human brain behaves when in love while writing your book. Doing so will make your story more believable to the reader. 68. Brain Experiencing Breakup : There are many romance books that contain a section that involves a couple breaking up. We're going to look at what is occurring in the brain when this happens. When a person is involved in romantic love, the fear of losing their mate can be overwhelming. And this same light. As soon as a person is dumped, the brain becomes ravenous for passionate love. The withdrawal from those loved drugs hits immediately. And with all of their vigor, it can be so strong that the person feels that their very survival is being threatened. Neurologically speaking, this is a point in time when the terror function in the amygdala is in full swing. The anterior cingulate cortex that place in the brain we're worry and critical judgment is largely processed, produces a surge of thoughts about losing the mate. Neurochemically speaking, the ones happy and heavy romance resulted in the regular release of pleasurable and addicting hormones, such as serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine. Dopamine is like a rewarding chemical when you hear your phone beep And you immediately respond to the notification and then smile because of that new text or like or whatever. That's dopamine. When you break up after a hot and heavy relationship, the chemicals in the brain go all haywire. In fact, chemically speaking, the brain experiencing a breakup closely resembles what happens to a drug addict that has quit cold turkey. The brain's chemical receptors are begging for the hormone that it had grown accustomed to. That fix, if you will. You've heard the expression broken heart. This is more than just an expression. New brain imaging studies reveal that the sense of rejection activates the same regions of the brain that process how the body reacts to pain. While harsh. This makes sense from an evolution based approach. Human survival is largely related to finding a mate, reproducing with that mate. And depending upon that made for personal gain, in evolutionary terms, being rejected is interpreted as being unworthy of procreation and cared for by the opposite sex. Remember, even though we now have airplanes and the Internet are neurobiology hasn't changed much in thousands of years. The pain of a breakup is not imagined. It's real, it's screaming to the person that they are in danger. This is a big reason why people quickly jump to a new partner after a breakup. It's the response to the brain scramble to keep its host from tumbling off the cliff. A literary example of this can be found in the twilight saga. Do you remember when bellows Swan kept waking up screaming and sitting at her window for months on end. And Edward willing to give up his life when he thought his romantic love was forever lost. The points I'm driving at is that if you have a break-up scene in your book, it requires more dramatic attention than you might otherwise assume. Okay? So just keep this in mind. If you choose to have a breakup in your book. The closer you reflect real-world biology, the more believable your book will be. 69. Lovers' Brain: We're writing romances. And in such a genre, there's always at least an undertone of sexuality. So in this section, we're going to explore issues related to sex, mostly as far as neurology and biochemistry is concerned. This information should help you to create more authentic fictional characters. Sexual interest begins with an unconscious process, meaning that most don't get to initially choose who they are physically attracted to. Both men and women have a pre-existing checklist hard wired into their DNA that tells them who to find sexually attractive. In heterosexual situations, this checklist is almost entirely based around the propagation of successful and thriving offspring. It helps to think of this part of our brain as being older than humanity itself. By enlarge, males are pursuers and females are selectors. Women are much slower to fall in love. For example, many women believed that love at first sight is a myth. And short, women have a subconscious and conscious checklist that must be filled out before the throes of love can take hold. The process of sexual arousal is a different experience for men and women. The calmer a female is, the more inclined as she is to experience sexual arousal. The females amygdala, or the fear and anxiety center of the brain, needs to be soothed into submission before sexual inclinations can occur. Males are the opposite. High fear and anxiety boosts sexual desire. One reason for this has to do with procreation. If a male is about to die, he immediately wants to pass on his seat before it's too late. However, a woman endanger unconsciously knows that such an environment is no place to carry and bear a child. So you want to make your heroin calm before sex. And you are free to make the hero especially anxious before sex if you want. A contributing factor to this difference is that testosterone plays an enormous role in sex drive. A major reason why men constantly have sex on their mind is because of their testosterone. For example, women who take testosterone supplements frequently report the side effect of having a drastically increased libido. This means that one way you can reveal that your alpha hero has a great deal of testosterone is to show his higher than average sex drive. The subject of foreplay should add clarity to understanding this neurological difference between men and women. For men, foreplay is that three minutes or so before intercourse? For women, is that 24-hours before intercourse? As a quick side note, this is a big reason why romance novels are read by mostly women. The romance novel simulates foreplay in the females neurobiology. The difference between how foreplay is neurologically considered between the genders should help to illustrate how males think short-term and females are oriented towards the long-term and not just sexual matters, but relationships at large. Something else to keep in mind is the role that pheromones play in inducing the sexual act. So be sure to include olfactory related language when building up to a love scene. The more accurate you are in matters of ingrained biology, the more you will satisfy the readers subconscious brain, the more you appeal to your audience's subconscious brains inherent skepticism, the more likely your readers will finish reading your book. Put another way. The more real your characters seem, the more captivating your story will be. 70. Characters' Relationship with Plot and Setting : In this lesson, I'm going to examine the character's relationship with Plot and Setting. Creating your characters personalities may be the first step you take when crafting your story outline. While personality is important, articulating personality is only part of the process. You also need to have your character's revealing their needs, desires, fears, and relationship with the other characters. Think of it this way. In real life, each of us make choices that impact our lives. These choices of a real-world equivalent to story plot in a character-driven story, choice, consequence, reaction puts another way. You want to use plot and setting to reveal the character. For example, puts a kind hearted person to the test. Do Plot and Setting. Make the gentle soul proof his or her kindness when Plot and Setting as pushing him or her to be evil. Ask yourself what settings or events will reveal the best and worst aspects of your characters. Try time, the plot, and a character's emotional life together as much as possible. Think of Frodo from The Lord of the Rings. His emotional life is so intertwined with the plot that it's difficult to distinguish between the two. Using choice, consequences, Plot and Setting to reveal your character and your character. Progression or regression will create a level of believability that the reader will appreciate. Most successful stories are largely about a main character fighting death. There are three types of death. These are physical, professional, and psychological. Physical death is about literally dying. Professional Death is about the protagonist's role in life, being in danger, forever losing their career. For example, psychological death occurs when the inner world or the humanity of the protagonist is being challenged. Death, in this case would create a character that is no longer hole. Many romances involve this type of death. For example, if the couple does not end up together, the pair will be forever miserable. The goal of using death as a hinge upon which to move the story is that it will create a psychological impact on the reader. And such an impact will keep the reader involved in the story greatly reduced. It may help to think of such stories as an effort to get something, such as an answer, a loved one, revenge, and so on. And to get away from something such as an escape from prison plot. A simplistic formula is character motivation versus obstacles equals character transformation. And important part of the plot is to facilitate character transformation. This is typically displayed as having been accomplished through some symbolic gesture. And example of this is Riggs from the lethal weapon movie, giving away the bullet at the end of the movie. In character stories, the plot and setting on the whole need to serve the evolving characterization process. This May still be a little confusing to you. So let me explain it through analogy. And this example, imagine a bartender being the same thing as an author of fiction. Now imagine that you have three bottles behind your bar from which to make your concoctions. The differing ratio of these varying liquids will create an entirely different flavored drink. Again, pretend that there are three different types of liquids of which to work with behind your bar. These fluids are plot, setting and characterization. Your beverage needs to contain all three. But if you use more of one and less of the other, you produce a different flavor. Your customer or reader has a certain flavor in mind when they ask for their order. If they are coming to your bar for a mystery story, they are going to expect to taste some setting and characterization. But on the whole, it's the plot that they most want to drink. The question of who done it requires setting and characterization to make the story work. But the answer to the who done it question is usually found in the plot bottle. If they come to your barred asked for a fantasy story, they are going to want more setting in their drink then will be found in most other orders. If they come to you to drink your romance, then they are going to expect more characterization in their drink. Then Plot and Setting strange analogy. I know, but I hope that helps. 71. Types of Characters : In this section, I'm going to talk about the different types of characters that most books have there or walk on characters, placeholder characters, minor characters, and major characters walk on in placeholder characters. We will not need any development. They are essentially parts of the setting. Their role is to make a scene appear more realistic or serve a quick logistical purpose, used properly, these characters perform their brief role in the story and then disappear. An example of these characters are those forgettable characters in The Wizard Lee bar and restaurant that we're very excited to meet Harry Potter for the first time. These were nameless characters that served the role of showing the reader that Harry was at character of consequence and therefore worthy of the reader's interest. Now, while walk on and Placeholder characters are relatively simple to create, there is one challenging aspect to them. Contrary as it may sound, you don't want to make them too vivid. Picture I play, for example, if you have a crowd of extras walking in the back of the stage to create the environment of a busy city setting. And then you have one of these extras dancing wildly and otherwise drawing the audience's eye. This extra, this walk on is failing at his or her role. Walk on in place holder characters are a good place to use stereotypes. In other words, you usually want these characters to behave exactly how the reader would expect them to behave in such an environment. If you have one of your walk on characters pulling on the reader's eye, you may want to consider scaling that character back, elevating that character to a minor character, or make certain that that extra is serving a role in the story. However, there are extras that are supposed to draw the audience's eye, such as a random person transforming into a vampire or zombie, or some other threat that will force a change in the plot. Ok, so now minor characters, minor characters can serve a variety of purposes in a plot. They can even sway the plot. However, they should not appear in the story anymore than necessary. Essentially, these characters perform one or three things in the plot and then vanish. And example that comes to mind, Auntie Em from The Wizard of Oz. Her role in the story was undeniable, but the audience only sees her a few times throughout the entire story. Okay, now major characters, major characters, or the characters that the reader needs to get invested in. These are the arch villain, the hero, heroin, and those other characters that repeatedly show up in the story. These are the characters the audience is supposed to love or hate. Fear from, or fear for. These characters on the whole, should have at least some kind of ARCX. And it's their choices, their actions, and desires that ultimately drive the plot. A good rule of thumb is that the more time and attention you give to a character, the more the audience expects that character to play an important role in the plot. Generally speaking, there are three types of leads. There's the anti-hero. Such leads operate by their own moral compass. This lead will often stand up to authority and when not to conform to the status quo. An example of the anti-hero can be found in the movie venom. A second type of lead is the negative lead. Such a character possesses values that run contrary to their surrounding community. The pursuit of power is often a driving focus for such a character. However, in order for such a lead to work, you have to hint early on that the negative lead is redeemable. The third type of lead is the positive hero. Such a leed stands for the community's values, will sacrifice themselves for an ideal and doesn't shy from conflict. Examples of such a character are Edward Stark and Jon Snow from the Song of Ice and Fire. A general rule is that none of these leads can be wimps. They cannot always be reacting to the conflict. They need to be willing to go on the offensive at some point. 72. Character Behavior : In this section, I'm going to discuss character behavior. One thing to keep in mind is that characters must have a moral code. Characters seem much more realistic if they have boundaries they won't cross. For example, think of the murderous sand Oracle gain from the Game of Thrones, saying that he is not a thief. He has no problem killing someone. But stealing is unacceptable. In this same vein, it really helps with character believability. If you make your character not conform to social pressures, unless your book's theme is to get a character to become independent, it is usually best to avoid making your main characters resemble sheep. It is typically best to show a character's attributes and behaviors to the reader, rather than just tell the reader about such characteristics. For example, when watching the movie Indiana Jones, we learned very early on that Dr. Jones is smart, brave, focused, greedy, resourceful, humorous, and has a strong survival instinct. No point where these characteristics told to the audience. We were shown them. If your characters are liars, showed them lying. If your characters are backstabbing, showed them backstabbing. Aspiring authors are often told to show and not tell. I disagree with this. Showing everything will destroy a story's pace. Sometimes the expedited method of telling is best. That said, showing is usually the ideal when it comes to portraying a character's behavior. Something to consider when creating a character's behavior is to make your character eccentric. Eccentricity done well can not only captivate one's audience, It can also leave a lasting impression. I'm dating myself here. But how many of you remember the movie Beverly Hills Cop with Eddie Murphy? If you remember this movie, you're also likely to remember the desk attendant at the Art Gallery. The unexpected eccentricity of the effeminate foreigner jumped out to the audience. Bronson, its role has nothing to do with the plot. But almost everyone remembers him. He wasn't just a foreigner. He wasn't just a feminine. He was both. And he displayed his sense of superiority and playfulness in a masterful way. Now, it should be pointed out that such strong eccentricity is typically best for secondary characters. Having your main characters, this excentric, could distract from the plot. If you are going to use eccentricity for your main characters, do so more subtly, or at least think Sherlock Holmes, whereas excentricity is aligned with a plot. Lastly, gives special focus to the characters attitude. Think of the character's motive as serving as an explanation as to why the character acts the way that he or she does. But attitude reveals how he or she reacts to external events. Motif and attitude are intimately connected, but they are also distinct from one another. Consider both when revealing how a character response to stimuli. For example, your hero will do the right thing in a certain situation. But at the same time, he shows that he isn't happy about it. 73. Elements Qualities that Help the Reader Sympathize with the Character - part 1: In this lesson, we are going to explore the various ways to garner sympathy from the reader for your characters. Really, the best way to begin tackling this subject is to just list off qualities that will evoke the reader sympathy. So that's what we're going to do. Make the character experienced hardships and not just as a result from their own ignorance or clumsiness. Make your character and underdog make your characters put themselves in harm's way to help someone else. Make your characters driven to overcome obstacles despite the odds being against them. And in the same light, give your character is something that they must overcome. Make your characters competent. For some reason, people like reading about characters, demonstrating their high skill level in something particular, give your character characteristics and circumstances that the average reader can relate to, make your character attractive. There's a reason why most successful actors, actresses, and singers are attractive. However, unless you have a reason, you don't want to make your characters know that they are attractive. People that are impressed with themselves are more difficult to make sympathetic. However, your characters can see themselves as attractive if such a self-perception is part of their personality. Han Solo from Star Wars is a good example. Seeing himself as being quite the catch is part of his cocky personality. Okay, so here's a conundrum. Readers are inclined to like characters that are similar to themselves. However, they grow tired of characters that are too much like themselves. Readers tend to be more engaged by characters that are unusual, that evoke curiosity. So you're walking a tight rope, your characters need to be similar enough to be relatable, but dissimilar enough to be interesting. We're going to close by discussing the character Han Solo. You'll see many of the qualities previously listed in the characterization of Han Solo. He has experienced hardships. It's clear that he has had to fight hard for his successes while at the same time being an underdog. He's frequently in harm's way, but succeeds nonetheless. He's highly competent. While he's from a different galaxy, he still seems very relatable. He's attractive. Andy has endearing imperfections. The more you get the reader to like your characters, the more they want to follow them, the more you get the reader to sympathize with your characters, the more the reader will like them. 74. Elements Qualities that Help the Reader Sympathize with the Character - part 2 : Now we're going to explore the issue of getting the reader to sympathize with your characters. It should go without saying that you need your reader to care about your characters. Whenever you introduce conflict into the plot, you need the audience to care about the outcome. It is possible to get your reader to care about the conflict on an intellectual level. This can be done by having a plot based around a principle or an idea that the reader already has a vested interest in. However, engaging the readers feelings is a far more effective technique to get the reader to care about the conflict. In order to fully explain this, I need to give a quick lesson on the evolution of the brain. Our brain processes information differently than how we consciously interpreted. See, biologists state that evolution is not a designer or an inventor. Rather, evolution is a tinkerer. This means that after evolution gave us a part of our anatomy, unless our biology determined that that part is causing harm, it doesn't ever remove that part. Instead, new parts get glued onto the old parts and is then integrated into the hole through workarounds and bypasses. Now, it's important for you to understand that the adage, age before beauty is especially true when it comes to the brain. Prefrontal cortex is largely the pinnacle of our human evolution. However, this powerful part of our brain is relatively brand new. The amygdala, medulla oblongata, the hypothalamus. Indeed, our entire limbic system has been with us since we were reptiles. Keep in mind the phrase oldest, first, newest, last. I'll give you two examples to help you understand this. And don't worry, this will all come back to the point of why as a writer, you are trying to reach a reader's emotions rather than their intellectual Islam. Hold out your hand and bend one of your fingers consciously. It feels like you're telling that one finger to move. However, first consider that evolutionarily speaking, we had digits before we had independent movement. Therefore, while it feels like we are telling that one finger to move, what's happening neurologically is entirely different. What's really happening is that the oldest parts of your brain, the one that was used for digit movement before we had independent finger movement, is telling all of your fingers to move. But a millisecond later, a newer part of the brain that was sort of slapped on top of the older part of the brain is actually telling the other four fingers to remain still. This process of oldest, first, newest blast is basically a rule in terms of how we process what we experienced in the external world and how our internal system reacts to those stimuli. Ok, so here's the second example. When we have an experience, that experience originally comes into us via our senses and first passes through the oldest parts of our brain. Where a hardwired set of reactions get sent all around our body, such as releasing a range of hormones, increasing heart rate, faster breathing, stomach tightening. We see this on the outside do bursting into laughter, smiling or being startled and so on. Again, all of this is happening without our control. When we end voluntarily smile, we are having a response to something that makes us happy. Then our newer brain, we'll notice that the specific facial muscles that are being utilized to produce a smile, and it detects the happy hormones. And then it determines, ha, I must be happy. Now it's my job to determine y. To this point, the field of neuro linguistic programming teaches that a way to defeat depression is to force your body to capture and hold the physical representation of a person that is extremely happy. You can try this for yourself if you like. Stand up straight with your shoulders way back. Lift your chin up high, stretch your arms out wide. Hold a wide smile as best you can while you make yourself heartily laugh. If you do this long enough, you will feel happy. And you didn't even need a reason to achieve that happiness. To put all of this and other way, neurologists make the argument that the conscious thinking part of the brain is the last stop in the process of experiencing emotion and applying causality and context to it. Experts make the case that because it all happened so quickly, we believe that it is happening simultaneously. Or we can even lead ourselves to believe that we are deciding how to feel first and then feeling it afterwards. Okay, so all of this explains why successful marketers strive to speak to our limbic system instead of to our prefrontal cortex. In other words, successful ads are those that appeal to our baser instincts rather than appeal to our sense of logic and reason. Because stimuli passes through the oldest brain first and once it is accepted there, the newer parts of the brain will rationalize its validity. So take all this information and now link it to the understanding that an emotional response is far older than intellectual response. If you strive to reach your reader on an intellectual level, you are not only giving yourself more work to do, your writing will also be less effective. 75. Additional Qualities that Make a Character Vivid to the Reader: Now I'm going to delve into some of the most important qualities that make a character vivid to the reader. One of your biggest goals as an author of fiction is to create characters that jump off of the page. You want your reader to surrender their disbelief. Your characters must seem so real to the reader that the reader becomes emotionally invested in the character's fate. In order to do this, you must imbue your characters with a wide range of qualities. The first quality to consider is the character's motivation. Determining a character's motivation is a serious matter. A character's motivation can account for 60% of the character creation process, as well as how that character navigates the stories plot. Think of it this way. Before actors and actresses perform as seen, their first step is to determine the character's motivation. At that point in the screenplay, the talent needs to know the character's motivation before they can understand the role they are playing. To elaborate on this point when crafting your character's motive, you usually don't want some familiar cliche motive. Often, you should craft a motive that is complex and may even result in contradictory behavior. Fortunately, novels are the best medium for exploring and revealing motive. Only in books can the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, reactions, plans be revealed in vivid and elaborate detail? Literature provides the best means to reveal humanities dynamic nature. As such, characters may begin the book believing that they are driven by one set of motivations. But their progression to the story can alter these motivations. And example of this is SAMHSA from the Game of Thrones, Song of Ice and Fire series. She began this series by being motivated to marry Joffrey. However, she developed a completely different set of driving motivations as the series continued. In essence, by revealing the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and reactions of your character. You are really having your characters come to better understand themselves. Just as the readers are coming to understand those characters puts another way. You often want to show your character growing and evolving via the shift in their motivation. A word of caution on this point, though, authors have so many tools at their disposal for revealing motivation that it's all too easy to get lost and using them. This is a potential problem for storytelling because the examination of motive slows down the stories pace. Having a slow pace for too long or too often will bore the reader. Okay, moving on. Now, while it isn't always necessary to give emphasis to a character's backstory. Showing that your character is somehow wounded by some hidden past event often helps to make the character more vivid. The point here is to make your character complex, but not so complex that they are incomprehensible. Your character should be complex enough to reflect a dynamic being. It's also helps to give your character admirable qualities despite their flaws. Make them resourceful, brave, Noble, have access to a network of friends and family and so on. While attributes are very important, flaws are even more so, and creating a believable and dynamic character. There's an entire section on character flaws. For this reason. Ultimately, your objective is to get the reader to care about your character. Give your characters strengths and weaknesses, give them hopes, desires and fears. Show their cravings, show their disappointments. Use the setting and plot to reveal the characters growth and decline. You setting and plot to give your reader insights into the inner workings of the character's mind. 76. Characters We Hate : Now we're going to discuss the elements that make a reader hates a character. It's important to know how to create a detestable character, because readers are very attracted to stories that contain characters you love to hate. Think Ramsey Bolton from the Game of Thrones As an example. Also, if you are aware of the qualities that stimulate a reader's hate, you'll know how to avoid these qualities when creating your heroes and heroines. Perhaps the easiest and most effective way to create a hated character is to show that character deliberately making another character suffer. The more you showed this character enjoying causing mental and physical harm to another, the more they will be disliked. However, there is a problem with this approach. This tactic has been used so much that it can be challenging to make the use of it look fresh. Again, think Ramsey Bolton, You want to tie the act of hurting another into the personality of the villain. When using this tactic, keep the definition of sadism in your mind, which is the tendency to derive pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation on others. The more believably statistic you make this character, the more likely the reader will ignore the cliche. Moving on, It's important to keep in mind that being a killer does not equate one to being evil in the eyes of the reader, even if that Killer isn't acting in self-defense. For example, writing about a person that does all that he or she can to assassinate Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, or other powerful people that have brought tremendous suffering upon the planet, such as a mass murderer, would not be hated by the reader. If you want to make a killer, a villain, you must make that murderer kill for entirely personal gain. In other words, while a bully will always be disliked by the reader, the same is not necessarily true for killer. Now, here's a bizarre thing about human preference. We simultaneously don't like characters that are unambitious and resent characters that over assert themselves. There's something about seeing a person forcing themselves where they weren't invited or being a usurper, that disgusts us. For some strange reason. We like to see a person gains something to appointment or otherwise do an authority that is outside of themselves. I suspect that this goes back to human history where we mostly existed in small, tight-knit communities. In such a situation, we wouldn't want some super assertive person pushing their way undeservedly into the tribes leadership role. But that's just a hunch. The last four, or being an oath breaker, being insane, flaunting intelligence and attitude. I'll elaborate. Attitude is a tricky one. You make a reader hate characters when they are incapable of laughing at themselves, when they blame others for their mistakes, when they take all credit for group efforts, successes do not exhibit any sympathy for others and treats people well or poorly according to their social class. A successful villain is one the audience loves to hate. However, it needs to be stated that the best villains are those that makes sense. Here. Think of it this way. The real world is full of evil people. But how many of these people wake up in the morning rubbing their hands together and twisting their mustache and say to themselves, now, how much pain and suffering can I bring to the world today? Nearly all bad guys have justified their nefarious ways of life. In other words, the best villains are those bad guys that do not see themselves as being evil. Now, this isn't to say that they go so far as to consider themselves a good guy. But their actions are usually based on some moral reasons that may only make sense to them. Think of Hannibal, the cannibal from the movie, selecting the terrible player in the orchestra for his next meal. Hannibal was committing evil, but it was to serve the greater good of making that orchestra great again. Or think of Thanatos wiping out half of all life in order to preserve the life of the other half. In short, you need to utilize attitude when shaping your villain. But do so in a way that doesn't create a character that is evil for evil sake. Next is a character that flaunts their intelligence. Most are often off put by people that frequently dropped $10 words that we don't know and otherwise speak in an Ivy League pompous way. There's a reason why so many villains are highly intelligent. It isn't just to create a believable external conflict. It's also to make the reader hate the villain. In the same light. People don't like those that are clearly talking down to them, speaking to them as if they are idiots, so to speak. Lastly, there's something threatening about being around someone that clearly knows much more than you. Again, think Hannibal, the cannibal. Everyone in those movies just knows that they can be outsmarted by him. And those that underestimate his intelligence suffer the consequences. Being an oath breakers should be easy to understand. One of the reasons why humans are so adapt, reading another human subtle facial expressions, eye movements, slight twitches, and so on, is because we are fully aware that humans can and will be deceptive. This is a reason why some people have a phobia of a clown. The heavy makeup hides the facial expressions that evolution has driven us to detect. So when a character breaks an oath, the reader has alarm bells go off that screen that this person cannot be trusted. In other words, an oath breaker, a liar, a deceiver is dangerous. Lastly, is the issue of insanity. There are many reasons why readers are prone to hate the insane. One is the predictability factor. We tend to dislike those that behave in a manner that makes 0 logical or rational sense. There's also the inability to fully understand the person. So why bother? The insane tend to belong to a world of their own. It is possible to have a likable in same person. But because people cannot understand the insane and we are prone to fear that which we don't understand. It is very difficult to have a likable, insane character. So there you have it. Keep these issues in mind when crafting your cast of characters. 77. Redeeming Virtues - the understandable villain : We're now going to explore some of the qualities that your villain or antagonist character must have. Should you choose to have such a character in your story? Justice readers will tire of a hero that is a 100% good guy. Readers will become disinterested in villains that are a 100% bad guy. Now, this isn't to say that the villain shouldn't be pure evil. Rather that the bad guy needs to see themselves as being morally justified in their own mind. For example, think of Thanatos and the last Avengers movies. Wiping out half of all life in the universe was considered the morally just thing to do. In his mind. Dennis was evil, but he deemed his harsh cruelty as necessary for the greater good. Just as you want to build flaws in your heroes. You also want to give your villains virtues. Show that bad guy loving someone, keeping promises, or give the villain a justifying backstory. You don't need to try to make the reader like the antagonist, but giving your villains opposing qualities will make them far more captivating. 78. Questions that Help with Character Design : In this section, I'm going to offer you a list of questions that should assist you in your character creation process. What does this character's worst day look like? What does this character is best day look like? Y. What is this character hiding in the back of his or her closet? What does this character's deepest, darkest secret? What would cause this character to pick up the chair that was being sat on and though it through a window. What would this character tattoo on their forearm if he or she has to get a tattoo. What thought with this character continue to think of if trapped in prison for a prolonged period of time. What does this character enjoy most about his or her life? What does this character hate most about his or her life? Why? What would this care to be willing to die? Defending what do event or events in this character's past most influenced their belief structure? What's memory or memories are most vivid in this character's mind? What's reputation does this character have with others? How is this character Stereotypical? How is this character not stereotypical? What is this character's network? Who are the major people in his character's past, present, and future. What's habits does this character have? What would this character's daily routine? B, on an average day? What talents and abilities does this character possess? What tastes and preferences does this character possess? What does this character look like? What does this character's name keep in mind that a name often says a great deal about a character. Where was this character raised? Where does he or she currently reside? Does this character live alone or with others? If with others? How did these people influenced the character? What is the character's level of education? What does he or she do for a living? What are his interests or hobbies? How does this character it relate to others? How does this character feel about the opposite sex? And why? If applicable, who was his characters best friend and worst enemy? Y. What is this character's age? What is his character social status? What kind of music and entertainment does this character enjoy? How to close friend or family member describe this character. What is this character's relationship status? How does this character feel about him or herself? What one wish would this character demand from a genie? What is this character's worst imperfection? How do you want the audience to react to this character at the beginning, at the middle, and at the close of the book. I saved the most important for last motive. What is this character's motivation? What does this character yearned for? And why does he or she believed that the objective is deserved? What does this character need and want badly enough to endure the stories conflict, to obtain it. When you've clearly established a character's motive, everything that character does will make sense to the reader. Characters with a clear motive are not only better characters overall, they are also more enjoyed, understood, and absorbing to the reader. Also, knowing your character's motive will help a great deal in shaping your stories, entire plots. Why did the character choose this road instead of the other one? Why did he retreat? Why did he attack? Why did she save him? Why does she let him perish? Just coming to know your character's motivation can be enough to create a full story. If you know what your characters want, You know how they'll react to the obstacles you place in front of them. Many people will pick up a fiction just to be able to see a character's motivation played out in vivid detail. Now, while it can be very helpful to answer all the questions previously stated, as well as the mini ones you devise on your own. It's important to remember that these questions and resulting answers are for you, not the reader. You may spend hours, days, weeks, months writing and answering these questions. Such effort will make you feel obligated to include your hard work in your story. Well, doing this will often degrade your story. You see the goal is twofold. One, to know your characters before you begin. But to, to discover your characters as they embark on a journey, you lay before them. Finding answers to your many questions will make your book better, but being married to those answers may weaken your story. 79. Difference Between How Males and Females Communicate - dialogue - part 1: Many writers fail to capture the manner in which the opposite sex communicates. So in this lecture, I'm going to be discussing the difference between male and female communication. Males and females communicate very differently. Notice that I'm using the broad word communicate here. And not just saying that the males and females speak differently. This is because females are far more sophisticated in their communication techniques. For example, compared to males, a larger percentage of a female's communication occurs via not only body language, but also intonation. And single word paragraphs. For example, bachelor males and married men have a completely different interpretation of the word nothing. When uttered by their female partner. The Bachelor asks his girlfriend what's wrong? She answers with the one word, nothing. When the married man, here's this answer to the same question. He's learned through the school of hard knocks to take notice of what facial expression she wore when she said this. Whether her body is relaxed or tense, what intonation she used when she said nothing? Well, the married man stays married because he's come to learn that when she says nothing and an aggravated way, what she is actually saying is that there is quite a bit wrong. The Bachelor male loses his mate and the married man stays happily married. And a big difference between the two is that the married man can understand just enough of his wife's communication to get by. This section is likely going to come across as sexist. Please understand that it's not my intention to be offensive. Also realized that these perspectives are not just my own. I have corroborated these perspectives with many experts that work in this field. C, At the risk of being offensive. The analogy of cats and dogs, the closest thing I've found to describing the difference between male and female communication styles compared to females. Males are dumb when it comes to interpersonal communication. We are Direct, simplistic, blunt. We can be clever, but it takes males far longer to attain the dynamic communication skills that females possess. Experts believe that females are far more advanced in communication because of certain biological and cultural differences. The female brain matures at a faster rate than the male brain. And there appears to be more cross hemisphere activity in females when processing communication. So while boys are off doing other things, phenols are not only practicing their communication skills with other females. Girls are also discussing dynamic and complex topics. In other words, as far as communication skills go, when the boys are in linguistic kindergarten, the girls are in the equivalent of third grade. When the boys are in third grade, the girls are in eighth. The trend isn't exponential, however, males eventually catch up and communication potential to a point that is, but males rarely reached the communication experience of a female. For example, how many nuanced conversations do females have when they go to the restroom together? I can tell you that males learn nothing about communication. When we go to the restroom, girls get together and feel comfortable talking about relationships, what's working, what isn't working, and why males don't do this. And if we do, it rarely reaches the level of sophistication as a female conversation has about the same topic. The point here is that females don't just get a headstart at communication via accelerated brain maturation. Females also engage in conversations that not only practices communication, but are also on the subject of communication. What did he asks you? Why did he ask that? Why did she say it that way? Such questions are not unusual for the typical female. Typical males don't ever ask such things. Now, feel free to disagree with everything said in this section. I'm going to continue. But if you are offended or uncomfortable, you can skip this section with the understanding that you need to write your male and female character communication styles differently. See there's a difference. And it's important to grasp that difference if you want your book to feel authentic. Again, think of a dog. Sit, stay, lay down, roll-over, shake. Padding the dog on the head will make the dog happy. Scratch behind its ears and rabbits, Tommy and the dog is in heaven. Give the dog a mean look or yell at it and it cowers. That's a male. You know what the dog wants. The dog makes it obvious. Subtlety is not the dog skill set. Now try the same approach with a cat. Nope. You have to lower her into the conversation. You have to study the cat, read its mood. If you entice the cat properly, that cat might allow you to approach it, do it perfectly and the cat will approach you. But consider telling the cat to sit, to stay, to lie down, roll-over, shake, and so on. That cat will look at you like you're crazy. But this isn't because the cat doesn't understand communication. All cat owners know that cats speak volumes, and a lot of it is done through body language. The cat gets close, but not too close. The cat flicks its tail in a certain way. The cat will give clues that the owner needs to read and not properly reading these clues may lead to getting scratched or bitten. Sometimes the cat communicates as bluntly as the dog. But this is a choice that the cat makes. The dog has no such option. It's easy to see a dog and another dog communicating smoothly with one another. And it's easy to see a cat and another cat communicating smoothly with one another. But cats and dogs tend to struggle when communicating with each other. If you want your writing to feel genuine, you need to bake this complexity into your characters. Intersexual communication. 80. Difference Between How Males and Females Communicate - dialogue - part 2: So moving on, I'm now going to delve into the topic of how males and females differ in their communication styles. Again, this is a generalization. Of course, you'll find males and females that do not fall into these boxes. What I'm going to discuss are more or less what are considered the historical norms. Women tend to talk about feelings. While men are inclined to talk more about things, men are known to use shorter sentences and relatively quick bursts of communication. Females are more inclined to push the discussion of a topic that a friend has made evident she would rather not discuss. While a male would usually not push the discussion of that topic when the friend has made the desire to drop that topic clear. When a female approaches a conversation, she has largely interested in establishing rapport, forging a relationship, and sharing feelings. Men come to a conversation with a focus on establishing status, gaining, or giving information geared towards finding a solution to a problem. Think of it this way. Males largely engage in report talk. Females are inclined to engage in rapport talk. Men tend to ask questions for the goal of gaining specific information. Females tend to ask questions with the objective of encouraging interaction. In this vein, females tend to ask more questions than males. Males and females often use the phrase, I'm sorry, differently from one another. Females tend to say, I'm sorry, as a way of showing sympathy or concern about something. Males usually say, I'm sorry, when they played a part in the problem. And thus the I'm sorry statement is one of apology. Males are geared towards making decisions even unilaterally. Females are more geared towards establishing a consensus. Therefore, females are more inclined to make their preferences known. While males are more inclined to issue demands. There's a variation in the use of sentences between the sexes. Females tend to use long, complex sentences that are often grouped into paragraphs. Males more regularly use short, inefficient sentences that tend to not carry the same level of descriptive detail as female sentences. Women are inclined to talk about feelings and emotions. While men focus on talking about things and actions, men are comfortable with making a pronouncement with a sharp period at the end of the statement, females often closed their pronouncements with a question geared towards a focus on consensus. It's cold in here. Don't you think it's not terribly rare for females to announce a preference or make a request through an indirect question. Would you like to go out for dinner tonight? We've been driving for a while. Do you need to use the bathroom? The male brain is structured to here only non consequential questions here. He's fine answering no to both of these questions. He's been confused as to why has made is suddenly acting agitated. Females are more inclined to be direct when providing emotional support to someone. While males tend to rely on humor, playful insults, or distraction, males tend to ask questions for the sole purpose of gaining information. Females use questions in a far more dynamic and complex way. Males are also typically tight lips when answering personal questions. Males usually need to be strongly encouraged to provide more information than the speaker deems necessary. Not so for most females, it's worth repeating. Most males are not inclined to talk about feelings, especially their own. It's important to keep this part in mind. It's the number one mistake that female writers make when writing mail dialogue. You're male characters will need a strong incentive or motivation or very intimate moment to feel inclined to talk about their personal feelings. While females are acute observers, men, on the whole notice only as much as is necessary. This carries over to the noticing of body language and vocal intonation as well. Males can be trained to take notice of such things. But generally speaking, males are inclined to notice only surface details. Males don't usually have speech that use euphemisms, comparison, analogies, or understatements. Males language is best described as bland, indirect, or what I like to call efficient speak. Males approach social hierarchy far differently than women. Men usually don't use language or behavior that obviously reveals the seeking out of approval or validation. Females do. Keep in mind that most, if not all of these differences can be explained through the study of evolutionary psychology. Simply put, ancient humans had different roles to play based largely on their gender. Studying this field will explain to you why females are far more inclined to gossip than males are. By the way, gossip is a pejorative in our culture, but it's really a sophisticated, cohesive mechanism for our culture. In other words, women play the largest role in keeping a community strong and thriving. Gossip actually plays a large role in accomplishing this feat. But I digress. When a person comes to a male with a problem, the males first inclination is to offer advice. A female is usual first inclination is to sympathize and otherwise can sold a person with the problem. Males often jump at the opportunity to take full credit of an accomplishment that he honestly earned. Females are more inclined to share their accomplishment with others rather than take sole credit. Males are direct and obvious when demonstrating aggression. Females often hide aggression and operate in a more clever, dynamic, indirect, and frankly a more manipulative and conspiring fashion. When a female is perfectly sober, she will usually consider potential consequences for her actions prior to acting. Females are prone to beginning and ending speech by using hedging language, such as sort of kind of try, hope, think, feel, believe, maybe, and tag questions. For example, don't you think, isn't it? Right? Or using inflection to convert a statement into a question on the face disappears to reveal uncertainty and a lack of confidence. But really, such language is a highly sophisticated method for gaining a sustaining relationships. In other words, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. The hedging language in bytes communication, especially when compared to the blunt, vinegary male manner of speaking. Also, keep in mind that it isn't just what is said, but also how it's said. It's almost another language buried within it. Females are skilled listeners and catch the subtleties that untrained males miss. A female can speak a word through a different tone. And from that tone change actually alter the meaning of that word. Females use five tones when speaking, while males use 1-2-3. Such a nuance would be difficult to capture in a novel. But if your audiences primarily female, I think he could pull it off as long as you throw in some body language description as well. Females tend to let a speaker finished saying the thoughts. Males are inclined to interrupt. Females will interrupt when it serves the purpose of offering support, encouragement, or affirmation. Also, females interrupt when Storytelling is taking place. Well, to a mail, this appears to be interruption. But really all it is is female camaraderie, where women demonstrate the joy of helping another tell a story. This is an activity known as co-authoring. Men are comfortable talking over each other in raising their voice. While it isn't uncommon for females to speak softly, at least in comparison to men. Men are capable of demonstrating affection to male friends through the use of playful insulting language. One male will pick on a friend's heavier weight, balding head, or age. And the other male will say something equally insulting. And they will both laugh, demonstrating that they enjoyed the banter. Women don't do this, at least not to each other's face. 82. Difference Between How Males and Females Communicate - dialogue - part 4 : Females are inclined to talk out loud as a method of processing information and contemplating options. Men largely contemplate internally and speak up after a possible solution has been realized. Fyi, this communication difference has caused a lot of fights between couples because the female style often irritates males and vice versa, males are more likely to make a direct accusation, while females more often strive to avoid confrontation and pursue indirect means of making accusations. Females tend to use the following speech tactics. Ask more questions. Encourage the speaker to continue talking by using nonverbal cues and verbal cues like responding to the other speakers remarks, being more optimistic compared to males, being more verbose, being more emotion oriented than objective oriented, less dogmatic compared to males. Please keep in mind that it's impossible to say that men and women communicate a certain way. Of course, there are differences, especially if you venture into other cultures. For example, studies have revealed that certain nationalities interrupt far more readily or far less frequently then other nationalities, no matter their speaker's gender. Many writers have the problem of successfully capturing the speech of the opposite gender. If a female writer makes a male character speak and act as a female would, then the reader will be dissatisfied with the character. Even if the reader can't quite figure out why. Alright, now, here's the thing. Everything mentioned here is really only relevant to those individuals that spin little to no time communicating via texting and social media. In other words, if you were listening to this course after the year 2025 or you're writing for the young adult market, then I suggest you conduct your own research on this subject. Social media has been proven to afflict females more than males. So it's possible that the current massive advantage that females have in the domain of communication will be lost or reduced because of their reliance on technologically based communication. No one yet knows for certain what modern technology is doing to us, but most agree that we are all undergoing radical transformations. Body language into a nation tempo, even breathing speed are all elements that females have unconsciously trained themselves to detect while engaged in conversation. This is a practice based skillset that a lot of mature women possess. There's no way to practice detecting these things in today's technological arena. Maybe a lot of this will come back in a virtual reality setting. But even that has limitations. For example, we won't be exposed to fair moons in such an environment. I'm trying to make this course Evergreen. Most of it is. But the human species is in a transformational period right now. And thus, it's possible that some of this information will change with time. So like everything else in this course, in the end, you will need to use your own judgment. 83. Body Language - dialogue: In this lecture, I'm going to discuss body language as it specifically relates to the dating ritual. The point of this lecture is really just to remind you that there's much more to human communication than just what's your characters speak. Rotting body language is just another tool in the writer's toolbox to make the story see more vivid and absorbing. Whether consciously or subconsciously. Females will often relay information via their body language as to whether or not she has attracted to our date. There are certain typical behaviors that she will perform if she has attracted to her date. I'm just going to list some of these off while standing and talking. She will completely faced her date, meaning that her shoulders will be parallel to her date. If she's not attracted, she will have her body turned signifying the I'm ready to run away. Posture. If attracted. She was staying closer than normal. She may even accidentally, on purpose, bumped into her date while walking. Her purse will be on the shoulder. That is not between she and her date. If the purse is between her and her date, then the purse functions as a protective barrier. She is attracted if she finds an excuse to touch her date, such as picking off a piece of lint. If she's attracted, she may seek out an excuse to suck on something like a pencil or a pen. She may twirl her hair or exposed vulnerable parts of our body. The two most common habits, or to reveal her bare neck to her date, or lift her arms to reveal her armpits. And attracted female will usually maintain heavy eye contact and may even blink a lot. If she's contemplating kissing her date, she will likely look at her dates lips a lot. And attracted female is also inclined to alter her appearance mid date. For example, show returned to her date after going to the restroom with a change in her appearance, such as she's now wearing lipstick or has altered her hair, or has undone a button. Her laughing a lot at her date, stupid jokes is another sign of attraction. Okay, next, I want to briefly discuss how your hero should use body language around the heroine. First. He should not approach the female from behind or from directly in front. In the real-world, coming from behind will surprise the female in a bad way. And coming from the front signifies aggression. If you decide to include such information in your book than ideally the hero should approach the heroin from the diagonal. That is, unless you want the hero to frighten her on his approach. In most cases, your hero should avoid acting in a fashion that depicts him as being a Beta Male. I provide lectures that distinguish the difference between alpha and beta males. For now though, you Hero almost always needs to display alpha male behavior. This entails him. Up as much room with his body as reasonably possible. I mean, come on. You don't want him walking around like a human x. But you get the point. When sitting down on a couch, his arms are fully extended on the back of the couch and his legs are spread. Next, alphas exude confidence, do their body language. This is typically displayed by showing the alpha as being relaxed even during times of high stress. Mirroring means what it sounds like. Copying the other person by mimicking a person's voice tone and tempo, and duplicating their body language. The person accelerates the creation of rapport by speaking directly to the other person's reptilian brain. Next, the hero should usually smile when approaching the heroine. Smiling signifies that he doesn't pose a threat and is open to having fun. Now, it's important to keep in mind that these are real-world rules that do not always translate well in fiction, for example, and this will be explored in another section. The monster hero shouldn't be approaching in an ideal fashion. By Monster, I'm referring to the Beauty and the Beast type scenario, where a powerful monster is tamed by the heroin. In other words, it's necessary that you weigh the advice given in this lecture to the specifics of your characters and plot. Back to smiles though, the correct smile can accomplish a great deal. There are smiles that actually send the wrong messages. Men smiling excessively and for no apparent reason, sends a signal to others to be distrustful. You want your hero to smile and smirk in a way that communicates, I have my stuff together. I know I'm hot stuff or I'm genuinely happy to see you. If you need an example. George Clooney and several other James Bond actors had this particular type of smile down pat. Ok. So the point is that if or when you have your hero smile, you likely need to do it in a way that does not generate a creepy vibe and represents an alpha male attitude. Eye contact can be perceived in the exact same way. Making and maintaining strong eye contact will generate discomfort and females. However, as odd as it sounds, this particular type of discomfort as a positive thing. Let me explain. When females become frightened, certain chemicals are released in the brain. These chemicals are exciting, an intoxicating. And what's more is that these chemicals in females closely associated to attraction in the female brain. As a side note, this should help to explain why many men take their date to see scary movies at the movie theater. Now, making and maintaining strong eye contact will often released the same chemicals in the female brain, but there is a catch if the eye contact is maintained for too long, these alluring fear-based chemicals get revved up and the female moves to become genuinely afraid of the male. In other words, a strong eye contact is excellent. Too much strong eye contact is a repellent. It's like the difference between seeing a scary movie that the female knows is a scary movie. And in real life, going into it legitimately frightening situation, like watching a movie about lunatics running the asylum and actually being alone in such a dangerous building. Good eye contact reveals confidence. Imagine if your heroes eyes could speak. They would be saying something like, I know a secret about you. And if you're good, I'll tell you what it is. This isn't aggressive. It's both intriguing and com. Lastly, and important thing about body language is that the female is the guide. A common misconception is that the male is the leader when it comes to escalation. This is commonly believed because the male is usually the one that makes the first big moves. However, the female is actually the one that first sends the signals that progression is okay. For example, if she touches his arm than he can touch her at some equally non-intrusive place. If she lets go with his hand, that he needs to release her hand. If the date is coming to a close and she starts looking at his lips, she's likely inviting a kiss. Really, it's best to think of this as a kind of dance where the to10 to notice and respond to each other's bodily movements. The point is that when it comes to writing fiction, you shouldn't make your hero, the leader of this dance. You can make him the actor, the advanced sir, so to speak. But if you are trying to show a healthy blooming relationship, then first write the heroine giving us subtle invitation before he makes his move. Otherwise, you may be accidentally writing an overly aggressive male. For example, your hero is dropping the heroin off at her home. They've had a nice evening. And there on the porch, you have your heroin throw in a few quick descriptions regarding the shade and shape of his lips. Such a description shows the reader that she's staring at his lips. Then when he goes in for a kiss, the reader is already warmed up for the move. In closing. Remember that while I recommend integrating body language into your book, writing and body language can be overdone, especially when used in conjunction with dialogue. Think of it as a seasoning for a meal. A dash of this, a dash of that can make a good meal great. But if you pour in too much spice, the meal will be ruined. Your governing goal is to make your writing clear, concise, and compelling. 84. Good for Romance Novels - dialogue: In this lecture, I'm going to discuss dialogue as it relates specifically to romance novels. Romance novels are largely about showing the development of an intimate relationship between a hero and the heroine. Romance readers want to see the formation of such close relationships. They want to see the struggle for the to, to connect and then share in the passion when the to-do connect dialogue is the place where much of this is revealed in the novel. The playful banter, the debates to whispering sweet nothings are all forms of dialogue that pull the reader deeper into your imaginary world and assist in facilitating your storytelling goals. Multiple lectures in this course discuss the role that conflict plays in the creation of a successful story. Dialogue is a place where you can reveal an escalate much of this conflict. You can use the exchange of words between your story's characters to push the characters apart. This isn't to say that conflict occurs and dialogue in the form of arguments. For example, imagine two opposing medieval kings meeting on the battlefield prior to the commencement of a battle. The words that the two kings are to each other can be spoken in a cool, calm, and collected manner. And yet in such a scenario, you can demonstrate massive conflict taking place. In other words, your characters don't need to be shouting at each other for conflict to occur via dialog. Another thing to keep in mind is that dialogue is perhaps the most effective way to create genuine atmosphere. Common sense would make you think that your narrative description of setting is what establishes atmosphere. And that's true. But only in part. It's dialog that does the heavy lifting. Or put another way. You're dialogue can undo your setting creation efforts. For example, if I'm writing a historical romance and have revealed through my setting descriptions that I've done all my homework. I can describe the periods, architecture, the local traditions, the types of food they ate during that timeframe and so on and so forth. But I'll immediately undo all of this effort if I have my characters speak as if they are from the 21st century. On the flip side, if I forego much of the setting descriptions, I don't talk about the architecture, the traditions, the food, et cetera. But the dialogue, I use reflex, the normal speech at the period, then the reader will accept that they are reading a historical romance. There is a caveat to this advice though. You don't want to go so overboard and creating authentic periods speech that you alienate the reader. Meaning, don't regularly use language and other terminology that only those born in the 17th century would recognize. In short, you want to use dialogue to create an authentic atmosphere, while at the same time avoiding making your reader confused or feel alienated. Okay, so putting all of this another way. Your heroes and heroines banter needs to be linked to your setting. The banter that takes place in the 17th century will look vastly different than a story set in the year 3 thousand. For example, a conversation about engaging in premarital sex will look entirely different in a book set in the past than it would in a book set in the future. What I'm saying is that you must lean on your dialogue to accomplish multiple feeds. Not only are you using dialogue to reveal the push and pull of the forming romantic relationship, but also creating and reinforcing the atmosphere within which that romance is set. Something else that is essential to understand about dialogue is that if you are writing your book from a single character's perspective, meaning that the reader just gets to witness only the heroines thoughts. Then the only way that the reader can find out what the hero is thinking is to show those thoughts, do dialogue. For example. And Stephanie Meyer's book Twilight, the hero Edward, is largely revealed to the reader via his dialogue. The use of dialog in Twilight brings to mind another important point. If you are writing a Beauty and the Beast type of scenario, where an apex, alpha male is actually very dangerous and difficult to tame. It's important to have dialogue where the hero tells the heroin that she would be better off staying away from him or not getting emotionally involved with him. And then towards the end of the book, have him say something like he cannot live without her. Now. Another thing to keep in mind is that dialogue can be a tool to vastly accelerate the characterization process. For example, say that I want the reader to understand that a character is a liar and cruel. Well, instead of telling the reader This, I can instead use dialogue to show this. For example, Jack tells Sara that he loves puppies. That the more the merrier. Then, as soon as Sarah steps out of earshot for a moment, Jack harshly kicks the puppy away from him. Bam, just that quick. The reader has a clear understanding of who Jack is. And all you had to do was have him say one thing and then do another. In the context of a romance, you can have your heroin tell the hero that she has no interest in getting to know him better, that he isn't even her type. And then show in her thoughts that she can't help but notice several of his attractive features and how those attractive characteristics make her want him. A lot of the characterization process can be accomplished by countering what is said to what is actually thought or done. You can use dialogue in a romance novel to push your hero and heroine together and to pull them apart. Have them say things to each other that relaxes some of the barriers between them, and then have them say things that throw some new barriers up. Consider dialogue is a tool to not only reveal the budding relationship, but also as a tool for revealing the type of character this speaker is. Always be asking yourself, how does this dialogue helped the present moment as well as moved the story towards the desired objective. For example, you can have the pair have a callous argument. But as we know from real life, some words can't be unsaid. You may succeed in a moment by having the to engage in a very realistic argument, for example. But to such a rage filled argument, help you move the story towards a realistic and satisfying conclusion. 85. Hero's Interaction with the Heroine - dialogue related - part 1: In this lecture, I'm going to be delving deeper into some specifics about how your hero should and shouldn't act around the heroine. If you are new to writing fiction, you will likely feel a strong inclination to make elements of your story resemble how interpersonal encounters occur in the real world. Meaning you'll want your hero to behave as males do. In reality. Such an approach is not necessarily incorrect. However, if you plan on making your fiction closely resemble reality, there are some things you should know ahead of time. For this reason, I'm going to be providing details on how your hero should behave based on real human tendencies. Personally speaking, I find that having a better grasp on human psychology helps with my writing. It's my hope that such understandings will assist you as well. So let's begin. Stereotypically, males are inclined to get all of their baggage out on the table very early in the dating process. Guys do this for multiple reasons. One, it's like pulling a Band-Aid off quickly versus slowly. Secondly, he tends to believe that if she wants to stay with him after learning about the worst aspects of himself than he's free to invest himself in this relationship. While this approach makes a lot of sense to males, females interpret this act of immediate full disclosure entirely differently. What she will likely hear from this is that he has negative, vulnerable, potentially weak. And it's otherwise not mainly for worse still. For some reason, males are also inclined to speak poorly about ex wives or girlfriends. Males do this for mostly logical reasons. But again, it actually pushes his data away by hearing him speak poorly of his x's, no matter how evil they were. She interprets these words as a description about how she could be betrayed by him to others in the future. He's speaking negatively of others. And this is often subconsciously interpreted as him being untrustworthy. Ultimately, though, the cardinal sin with this behavior of males giving full disclosure early on is that he is taking the mystery out of the dating dance. It's a natural inclination of the female psyche. Fully extract information out of the mail. This inclination is akin to how fishing is alluring for males. Would type of fish. Does this beta tracked? How big of a fish will I get here versus over there? Shoot no fish today. Maybe I'll catch a big one tomorrow. I dare say that this process is exciting and engaging for women. It's the difference between a fisherman staining in knee deep water, meticulously wading his hook, skillfully casting his line, breathing in the fresh mountain air, soaking in the atmosphere, and all the while wishing and wandering about his next big catch. It's the difference between that and that same man going to the fish aisle at the grocery store and being given a fish free of charge. There's no reward there, no excitement connected to the catch. And that makes the prize as unrewarding as it can be. In other words, it's very important that your hero maintains his mysteriousness for as long as the plot allows. Information about him should be trickled out. And usually as a reward for the heroines efforts to extract the information out of him. And he should rarely speak poorly of those ones close to him. That wrong TIM. That is, unless it's vital to the plot. Next, another common misconception is that a female should be lavished with compliments about her appearance. It's true that females put tremendous emphasis on their appearance. Women are so aware of this preoccupation with physical appearance that when verbally combating another female, her first inclination is to attack a female competitors physical flaws. So yeah, looks are important. However, while your hero should certainly show or secretly reveal his interests in the heroines physique. He should barely discussed the point with her. As a side note, pickup artists often advise males to criticize females. It's not uncommon for females to be inclined to defend themselves to the interested mail. This in turn results in her seeking his approval. And from there he can steer her interest towards him. In this same vein, many males that have studied female psychology often tell their significant other to ever get angry with another male. This is because anger and passion are neurochemically and biometrically very similar in females. In other words, a male can manipulate a female to become interested in him by first getting her angry at him. Then Ali has to do is make peace with her and keep the conversation going from there. Please understand I'm not trying to demean women with what I'm saying here. A lot. Shoot. All of this is reptilian brain stuff that bypasses are better judgment. The point is that you can use this information in your writing or more to the point. This information goes against common sense. And your first inclination will be to write a developing relationship that runs contrary to what I've stated. She got furious at him. Therefore, it will take much longer for them to get together. He picked on our physical appearance and therefore, even though she likes him, it will take them longer for them to get together. He is showering her with praise about how beautiful she looks, and therefore they will get together soon. Statistically speaking, these are all wrong. The hero can say that she is beautiful, has pretty eyes, are lovely hair or whatever. But if your hero is not a bad boy hero, than his compliments need to be deeper. Where he compliments or intellect or kindness or other genuine attributes that aren't just skin-deep. 86. Hero's Interaction with the Heroine - dialogue related - part 2: Next, and this is in line with the fishing analogy. Until the stories conclusion, the hero should rarely, if ever, initiate a discussion about their romantic future together. Discussing the future is also the equivalent of giving that fisherman of fish rather than having him HUD for it. However, the opposite can be done to your heart's content. For example, in much of the Twilight saga, Edward is trying to dissuade Bella from pursuing a future relationship with him. Also, just to, It's the hero that usually shouldn't be readily discussing a future relationship in a positive way. To heroin can talk about it or initiate the discussion if needed. Next, I don't know what type of person your hero is. So what I'm going to say next may not apply in your case. However, if your hero is characterized as being openly interested in the heroine and has a personality that is conducive to being inquisitive, then an effective way to move the relationship regression forward is to have your hero ask questions. Now, again, such questioning shouldn't read like an interview. Rather, the questions should reflect that the hero has genuine interest in the heroine. These questions shouldn't be questions that can be answered quickly. Rather, they should be phrased in a manner that requires relatively long answers. Also, the more the questions elicit fun and interesting answers that better. Conversely, females tend to reveal their level of interest in the mail through the questions she asks. The more personal the questions. Typically speaking, the more attractive she is to the mail. However, this isn't a rule because the females culture and personality type play a role in how many and what type of questions she asks. The exchange of questions and answers and the follow-up questions and answers accomplish two major objectives. First, it helps the author with the characterization process. Second, you reveal the developing relationship in the best possible way by having the hero and heroine react to one another. Again, it needs to be emphasized. These Q and a sessions shouldn't read like an interview. It needs to be contextually relevant. Lastly, at some future point in the story, it helps if your hero makes a statement that proves that he was not only closely listening to her answers, but also remembers what she said. Throughout history. Males have used deception to make progress in the mating process. As a result, evolution has provided females with analytical skills to better detect these deceptions. When a male demonstrates that he remembers what she had told him, he is checking one of her subconscious boxes. Conversely, a red flag goes off in her brain. If the mail doesn't remember something that she is certain She told him. Females are genetically motivated to test their potential partners. If she is already very interested in the potential mate, these tests will be very easy to pass. If she is suspicious, they will be difficult. So have your heroin throwing questions here and there to check if he is listening. You should know that this test tests more than just whether or not he was paying attention. It also tests his confidence and status. For example, she'll deliberately argue with him to see if he changes his stance to agree with her. If he alters his position just to a piece her than he is low in confidence and status. There's an evolutionary purpose for these tests. The short explanation being that she wants to make certain that he is strong, capable, and competent before she commits to him. The results of the test were especially important back when humanity confronted life and death situations on a regular basis. Also, as a side note, alcohol and other recreational drugs disable and even reverse many natural practices females have for the mating process. So, including drugs and alcohol in your story can change a lot of this. Now, in regards to the test that females USE, keep in mind that your goal as a writer is to generate and sustain manageable conflict between your hero and heroine. In other words, you don't need to make your hero so perfect that he passes every test that the heroin throws at him. Consider having him fail some even fail some big ones. Just to create some stress between the two. Remember, your goal isn't to create a fairy tale where prince charming meets princess perfection. The goal isn't to show that the hero and heroine are perfect, rather that they are perfect for each other. The next thing to talk about is the subject of discussing sex. Depending on your heroes type, it's typically better to have your hero played lightly with this subject. If the heroine approaches the subject, you should have him playback and toss in a few playful sexual innuendos, but then he should change the subject. There are many reasons for this. The main one being that you want the heroin to be more to the hero than a means to sexual gratification. Depending on your target audience, you should feel free to move them towards the bedroom. But unless you are writing erotica is extremely important to broach this particular topic, like a dance that begins with a playful song and then transitions into a slow song. That said, your hero is likely going to be an alpha male, which means that he isn't inclined to bite his tongue to make him witty and charming like a James Bond figure 90% of the time. And have him be a naughty boy. The remaining 10%. It's okay to have your hero be perverse here and there. Just don't make him that way all the time. Think Hans Solo yelling at Princess Leah. You could use a good curse. Hand. Solo shows he's interested in her, but isn't chasing after her like a lust filled dog. 87. Hero's Interaction with the Heroine - dialogue related - part 3: Now this next piece of advice is a bit advanced. You can use your dialogue about sex to accomplish a great deal more than relays sexual desire. A perfect example of this occurs in the movie Top Gun. There's a scene where Meg Ryan's character calls out to her partner, goose, you big stud, Take me to bed or lose me forever. Shortly after that scene, the heroine Charlotte says to the hero maverick, Maverick, you big stud, Take me to bed or lose me forever. There's a great deal more going on with the short lines of dialogue than meets the eye. One, goose and Meg Ryan's character are passionately in love with one another. It's obvious that this couple accepts each other's flaws in our still crazy in love with one another after years of being together. Multiple things are demonstrated by Charlotte using the same exact line of dialogue. One, it shows how important goose and Meg Ryan's character are to the storyline. Two, it shows that Charlotte is pursuing the same level of passion and engagement for maverick three. And this is a particularly brilliant part. The line is given emphasis when goose and Meg Ryan, or soon torn apart by goose, is untimely death. Now, something else to consider is that this line of dialogue is blatantly talking about sex. And not only about sex, but sex or face the consequences. Prove that you loved me in a physical way right now, or I'm out of your life. This line of dialogue says this, but not in a vulgar way. Now, you're writing romance. So in many cases you can be as crass or as explicit as you deem necessary. But if you are writing for young adults, you may want to consider writing dialogue about sex that involves indirect language, like Take me to bed, which everyone knows what that means. Lastly, it's important to notice that it's the females that say these arguably most memorable lines of dialogue and the entire movie. Remember what I was saying before? When it comes to the actual dialogue? The female bee direct first, again from the movie Top Gun. She walks into the ladies room. He follows him behind her. It was a long cruise. Was it sailor? She says maverick response. It was too long. She responds, What do you wanna do? Just drop down on the tile floor and go for a replies? No, actually, I had this counter in mind. She responds, Great, That would be very comfortable. He responds. It could be DC. He followed him behind her into the ladies room. But if you track the dialogue, you'll see that he's following her lead in the conversation. When it comes to the literal spoken dialogue, She is the One brought up sex and even directed the path of the conversation. I'm not really sure how to make this any clear. Your hero needs to be assertive, make his interests known, Be confident, show initiative. But the majority of the interaction between the initial meet usually needs to be led by the heroin. Again, the same movie. Maverick introduces himself to the heroine by singing to her. And their interaction ends at the bar by her not outright rejecting him, but rather playing with him in a flirtatious fashion. This is especially noticeable if you read her body language. So in short, the hero initiates. The heroine gives leading cues. The male follows those cues and acts on them as if they were his idea to begin with. Alright, so moving on, relaying passion is very important when the hero begins to open up to the heroine about his interests and hobbies. He needs to delve into why he enjoys such activities. It's not the activity that is important. Rather, it's the emotional reasoning behind the enjoyment. Women tend to give a great deal of emphasis to emotional elements within conversations. You're reader will continue to fall in love with your hero as long as the hero conveys emotion and involves the heroin in his discussion of his interests. That said, I should point out that you can pick typically masculine hobbies that will work against you as the writer. Statistically speaking, heroes that have an interest in sports and video games tend to be less enjoyable to the romance audience. I'm not saying that you can't make those work. But why make your job harder if you don't need to? Just remember when the hero talks about himself, it can't be just about the facts or logical speak. It needs to tie in emotion. Now, he doesn't need to get over the top emotional where he comes across as being less masculine. He just needs an answer to the why question. That isn't as emotionally dry as I just like it. It needs to be more like my father and I used to do this together when I was young. Doing this hobby helps me to remember him. The hero can then bring her into the conversation through something contexts related. For example, he can ask, is there anything in your routine that helps you to recall pleasant memories? In other words, the hero must reveal information about himself, but at a pace that keeps him mysterious and alluring by him asking her a question, the hero reveals that he's interested in her beyond her body. Also, sales professionals teach that the one asking the questions is the one that is in control of the conversation. So the more you have your hero asked personal questions of the heroine, the more in control he will appear, which is a good thing because being in control is alpha behavior. Having the hero follow up his answer with a question also helps you as a writer because it provides you with an excuse to get her talking again. An important note to remember there though, is that the heroin is your readers conduit into the story. Essentially, the heroine is the reader. So when you have your heroin, talk about herself, you'd need to try to minimize using things that would sever the connection between the heroine and the reader. A perfect example is having her talk about her appearance. Say, for example, that she answers his question by talking about how her late mother would spend hours brushing her long red hair. And now she uses the same brush in the morning to remember her. Well, that answer would be better if you leave out the long red hair detail, because if your reader has any other type of hair color, it disrupts the illusion that the reader is the heroin. Just to be clear, I'm saying that you should try to minimize these types of details, not avoid them, because you are writing fiction and thus you need to be free to make your heroine of full character. That said, I do recommend that on your second draft, you look for passages that you can alter or delete, that might make it more difficult for the reader to identify as the heroine. Refer to, to heroin section. If this latter point confuses you. 88. Hero's Interaction with the Heroine - dialogue related - part 4: It isn't so much with the hero says, as it is how he makes the heroine feel into complicate this point further. A big part about how women feel about males depends upon how the male feels about himself. Meaning that if he's a Beta Male trying to play the role of an alpha male, he will feel awkward and she will detect his self discomfort. For example, there's a subtle balance between a male giving a female too much eye contact and too little eye contact. Too much eye contact will be interpreted by her as being too aggressive or intense. Too little will relay a message of disinterest or shyness. The point I'm trying to get to has to do with the issue of so-called creepiness. The last thing you want is for your hero to be described as being creepy. Now this adjective isn't quite as clear cut as you would think. Which is why I'm spending so much time on it. A guy approaching a girl in a creepy way does not make him creepy. What makes him creepy is the way he makes her feel. I'll give you a superficial example to illustrate my point. Picture Brad Pitt and his Prime sitting at some public space. Now picture a girl that has always fantasize about meeting Brad Pitt. This girl looks over to see the one and only Brad Pitt staring at her off and on in a provocative manner. In such a scenario, it's unlikely that she would describe Brad Pitt as being creepy. Now, if he turns to see some dirty, smelly, impoverished, short, fat guy looking at her in the same fashion. She will immediately describe him as being creepy. This mail might be the sweetest guy you'd ever meet. But that doesn't matter in that moment. She doesn't want his attention, but he's giving her his attention anyway. This makes her feel uncomfortable, maybe even feel threatened. And thus he is deemed as being creepy. This point deserves attention because first impressions carry a great deal of weight with women. You don't need to make your hero and heroine and get along at first. In fact, in most cases, they shouldn't. But he should never read as being creepy. And again, he can't be perceived as being creepy if she doesn't feel that he is creepy. I'll give another example. Say she spots Brad Pitt staring at her and he is seriously unkempt. But she recognizes him as Brad Pitt. Clearly, he's desperate for a shower and a shave, but that won't matter. He still will not be perceived as being creepy. And often successful way to minimize the risk of creating a creepy hero is to make your hero desirable. This usually entails him not only being attractive and sought after by other women, but also giving him one or more of the Big Three, wealth, power, fame. In short, it's much easier to write a story that moves a heroin from hating, even fearing the hero to eventually loving him. Than it is to write a story that moves her from disgust, repulsion, and otherwise being creeped out to eventually loving him. The next thing to point out is the need of having your hero avoid talking about his valuable possessions, his wealth, status, fame, or anything. Really that looks like he's talking himself up to the heroin. In the real world. Often times, such talk has the opposite effect as what the male intended. It is generally perceived as him portraying himself as being insecure or seeking approval. I'm not saying that your hero must be humble, but a more effective way of revealing his office status is to have him act like his high achievements are of little consequence to him. He's got a goal and that's where his focus is. Now, as far as showing off by talking about personal achievements, reverse tends to be true for women. Even high-status females will feel inclined to include self-praise in their conversations when they are deeply attracted to someone. She is essentially validating herself by explaining her value. Put another way, women tend to not waste their time explaining their virtues to those they have no interest in. Now, you shouldn't go overboard with having your heroin practice this self-praise. Just consider throwing in some self-aggrandizing sentences here and there. After you've reached a point in the story where she's trying to win the hero over. Lastly, when the story comes to a close, you need to have your hero and heroine see there's three vital words to each other. I love you. Another set of three words that your hero should say is, I appreciate you. Women deeply enjoy feeling, seen, heard, and understood. These three words communicate that he sees something extremely valuable within her, even if she doesn't see such specialness within herself. Now, you don't need to use those exact three words. Any equivalent phrase too. I appreciate you will do the trick. Essentially. You are trying to reveal that he has enamored by more than just her physical appearance, and she enjoys that. He appreciates her. 89. Humor Smile Light-Hearted - dialogue: In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing early stage seduction that you should consider including in your romance novel. As discussed in the female brain Lecture, certain prerequisites need to be met before a female can move into a sexual mindset. Just a quick recap though. Biologically speaking, the male's contribution to the procreation process is relatively very quick. And the most basic of cases, all he needs to do is deposit his seed. Evolution is hyper-aware of this reality and does it's possible for male lust to get heightened too incredible levels during life threatening situations. However, it is the exact opposite for females. Evolution knows that if impregnated, the female must not only carry the fetus for nine months, but also tend to the child post-birth. Again, evolution is hyper-aware of this reality, which means that in a completely sober state, female lust gets ramped up during times of feeling secure. Okay, Female lust also gets drastically elevated during the fertile moments of our ovulation cycle. But that's beside the point I'm trying to make. My point is that the heroin in your book should not be susceptible to genuine arousal and seduction. If she is stressed out. You can have highly stressful scenes in your book. It seems that move the subduction process forward needs to be relatively calm situations. To do differently goes against human nature. And if you don't heed this advice, your reader will either realize or simply feel that something is amiss. So in this lecture, I'm going to offer some advice on how your hero should behave during the moments that he is trying to seduce the heroine. Firstly, due to the point I made earlier about the female meeting to feel safe and relaxed prior to arousal. The heroes first goal needs to be to make her smile and to hold that smile for as long as possible. Often the best way to accomplish this is to push humor. After all, laughter is a powerful aphrodisiac. However, this laughter shouldn't be the consequence of slapstick jokes. Rather it should be the result of genuine fun and alleviation. As a consequence of this, the dialog needs to be over topics that are considered light, playful or otherwise fun and substance. The serious or otherwise heavy subjects need to either be avoided or spun back into something lighthearted. Next, your hero needs to prove he not only keeps secrets, but also does not talk badly of his xs. This will communicate to the heroin that the hero will keep her secrets and her reputation is safe with him, because if things don't work out, he won't go talking behind her back. Just have your hero be witty, cocky, or snide by answering questions about secrets with smart al-Awlaki statements like, I'll never tell or wouldn't you like to know? In this same vein, females loved the mystery, the dance of the chase, doling out backstory as discussed in other lectures. But this is especially important for heroes. If the hero discloses to much about himself too early, the heroine should become disinterested. It's best to partition this information and dole it out slowly and in a manner that answers one question but raises more questions. To better understand this, consider what makes a mystery novel so captivating. The answer to who done it isn't provided on page six. For reason, female attraction requires worry, which is why males are advised to wait three days before calling a girl for the first time. Female attraction needs that. Will he or won't he? Anxiety. If he calls right away, the energy she craves from the dance of the chase is immediately extinguished. Also, as a side note, calling right away signals to her that he is desperate and or lacks options, which also signals to her that he is not worth her precious time. Lastly, your hero absolutely must be confident. This is because confidence communicates a tremendous amount to the females unconscious mind. Unconfident males communicate to females that they are vulnerable to attack or low on the social hierarchy and has more needs than attributes. Confidence communicates the opposite. A confident man communicates a secure environment, access to resources and social status, and the capability to engage and fun. Earlier in this lecture, I reminded you of the need for the female to feel safe before she welcomes seduction. While a fully confident hero will always be exerting a safe atmosphere. I'm not saying that your hero has to be unwaveringly strong, but his natural baseline needs to be a place of self-confidence. 90. Tags and Mechanics - dialogue: In this lesson, I'm going to discuss the mechanics of using dialogue. Dialogue is what occurs inside quotation marks. Only spoken words are put in between quotation marks. Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks if you are trying to close the sentence. However, if that isn't the end of the sentence, then punctuation goes at the end of the sentence. Also, you usually use a comma between the attribution and the quote. The next thing is that you need to create a new paragraph every time there is a new speaker, as well as when the reader's focus has shifted to another character. Even if that character isn't speaking. Also, speaker is quoting another character. That quote that occurs within the dialogue should be enclosed in single quotation marks. Next, we need to talk about attributions. Simply put, attributions in form. The reader who is speaking, we are going to discuss the use of dialogue tags. But for now, it's extremely important for you to understand that using said is perfectly fine, if not advisable, as a new writer, you will get the feeling that constantly writing, he said, she said, is ruining the reader experience. But studies have been done that reveal that the, he said, she said, words are all but invisible to the reader. It gets about as much attention from the reader's brain as the Articles a n. Because the reader is so accustomed to seeing it. In addition to this, not using said, When you should actually distracts the reader from the reading experience. If every tag you use has some seemingly clever and descriptive language, you not only distract the reader, you also risk greatly reducing the impact of your dialog. In short, learn to get comfortable using said. Now, if it is important to your scene, feel free to use descriptive words like murmured, shouted, whispered because they relate to the reader how the words were said. But again, the use of such words must be linked to the scenes action. In other words, you need some reason to use descriptive words like these. Attribution is not the time to be creative. You are striving to achieve accuracy here, not to poetry. For example, they are being hunted by zombies. So they whisper, they are about to charge into battle. So they yelled. In other words, if you have a pair talking in the hallway during an average seen, the use of such descriptive language will hurt your dialogue. Connected to this is the point. You should usually avoid arguably pompous descriptive words like gritted, a beard, or rated because they demand too much of the reader's attention. Next, the words you use to describe your language needs to be directly related to speech. Many new writers use words like laughed and smiled when writing a dialogue tag, but you can't laugh or smile a word in this same light. Be careful using words like hist, growled, hummed. Because again, unless your character is a snake creature, it's almost impossible to his a word. And unless you're creature is a bear or something, it's hard to growl a word. Such descriptive tags may sound cool, but they need to be logistically accurate for them to not work against. You. Also, be careful when using verbs as a tag. It usually won't work because tags have to be related to sound. This is wrong. For example, handed me the hammer, he jumped off the porch. Next, be careful when using adverbs. Sometimes adverbs and tags is perfectly appropriate. Such as he said quietly. This example isn't complicated. Direct, and succinctly describes how the dialogue was spoken. However, she interjected greedily, grabs the reader's attention too much to be beneficial. Redundancy is also a problem, such as she yelled angrily. Also, keep in mind that when you have only two characters speaking, you don't need to have taglines for every line of dialogue with just two speakers. The reader already knows who is speaking due to the creation of a new paragraph from every switch in speaker. But if your characters are engaged in a long conversation, you should occasionally throw in a tag so as to ease the strain on the reader's memory. That said, I actually recommend not using any tags if you don't deem them necessary. This goes along with the whole less is more theme that I've been repeating. Next, don't use parentheses. Colin's are semi-colons inside dialogue. These characters have no place in dialogue. However, you can use dashes and ellipses to represent patterns of natural speech. Ellipses are usually used to represent a character pondering or fumbling or otherwise struggling to speak. Dashes are typically used to signify a speaker being interrupted. Lastly, you can use exclamation points. However, many successful authors make the argument that you only get two exclamation points in an entire book. So be careful about when you use them. Next, you need to be extra diligent when you have three or more characters speaking in a scene, obviously, you can't get away with using he said, she said, in such a scenario. In such cases, you need to employ the use of names or some of the more advanced tactics that will be discussed next. If you can't use names, use physical descriptions such as said the skinny man or said that tall lady. You need to be extra vigilant in such scenes because there is a high risk of confusing your reader in such conversations. Okay, so now some advanced stuff. One tactic, integrate speaker identifying words inside of the actual dialogue. When I was a young boy, I would always fly my kite. My mother used to say, I was the prettiest of all of her daughters. A second tactic is to integrate speech nuances that are unique to a particular character. This would be in addition to giving a specific voice to a certain character. In other words, if you have a person native to New York, talking to someone native to the deep south. If the dialogue is well-written, the reader will know who is speaking even without dialogue tags. For example, take a moment and think of linguistic styles that are common in the North. The South does not share, and vice versa. You can also consider tags that relay this same information. If you have two males talking, one is from the north and one is from the south. And you close one quote with he said withdrawal. Who do you think just spoke? A third tactic is to integrate identifying action in or just outside the quotes. Such use would depend on the scene. But what you are aiming for here is to not only Mel the dialogue into the scenes action, but to also identify the speaker through action-oriented dialogue. The best writers think of clever ways to relay information in a roundabout yet very clear way. 91. Suspense - cliffhanger: In this lecture, I'm going to delve into the topic of suspense. It's important to understand that suspense is a significant part of almost every story. It's one of those key elements that keeps the reader from putting your book down. Generally speaking, suspense occurs when a reader has a vested interest in a character and must wait to discover what happens next. Suspense is largely accomplished by a writer performing to feats. The first feat is to make the reader care about the characters and their situations. The second feet is successfully doling out the information the reader desires most. This is done by providing that information in selective increments, where you've waited until the perfect moments to deliver that sought after information to the reader. This is to say that suspense is usually created through the process of never leaving the reader fully satisfied. In example of this occurs in mystery novels, or answering one question only raises a new question that the reader wants answered. There are other tactics that a writer can use to create suspense. As previously mentioned, one of the most obvious methods is the deliberate act of withholding information. This technique can be used in a variety of ways. One way is to make it clear to the reader that the main character's backstory is an important thing for the reader to know. The writer then teases at giving that information, but weights into a crucial point in the plot to share that character's backstory with the reader. The Bourne Identity is an example. This strategy is a good one to use because it stops you from getting into the temptation of spending too much time on backstory too early in the story. Whether you use this suspense creating technique or not, you usually want to drop enticing backstory crumbs here and there, rather than doing an info dump. Another way to use this tactic is to withhold information from the characters. In this situation, the readers know something that the characters in the story do not. This technique is known as the Hitchcock affect. An example of this is to show the audience a bomb that has planted under a character's bed. And then the reader is left to wonder if that bomb is going to get that unsuspecting character. Another tactic is to play with action sequences that carry high consequences. These high consequence action sequences can be matters of life and death, a threat to lifelong happiness, or something that has emotional significance to the character. Always keep in mind that if what is at stake doesn't matter to your characters, they won't matter to the reader. The next tactic revolves around spinning extra care with your villain or antagonist. Done correctly. Much of your stories suspense can be generated by your antagonist. Keep in mind though, that your antagonist must match your genre and target audiences expectations. For example, a villain that would be best suited for a horror novel would not be an ideal villain to have a romance novel. A final tactic that should be mentioned is the use of the time limit. Thriller novels use this tactic all the time. There is an inherent suspense built into a story that is squeezed into a narrow timeframe. For example, a bomb will go off in 24 hours. Will they find in disarm the bomb in time? The woman he loves is about to get married to an evil man. Will he make it to the wedding to protest in time? Suspense is inescapable when the reader is worried about the ticking clock. 92. Viewing Every Chapter as a New Beginning - cliffhanger: Believe it or not, chapter beginning is go hand in hand. With chapter endings. You write a chapter ending to entice the reader to begin a new chapter. You write a chapter beginning to initiate a new reading momentum. With chapter beginnings, think in terms of sentences rather than pages or paragraphs. Words count more here than in any other place in the chapter. Unless your description is intriguing, captivating, and leading to action, you usually want to avoid description in these early sentences. Contrary to popular belief, you aren't setting the stage here. That actually comes a little later. You really only have one goal with chapter beginnings and snare the reader's attention. You don't even need to make this part necessary to the story as a whole determines a hook the reader, and that's the only thing you are focusing on during the beginning of your chapters. While it hurts me to say this, feel free to be as cheap and gimmicky as you deem necessary here, most authors agree that two things work rather well with chapter openings. Action and dialogue. Action and dialogue tend to hook the reader during these parts in the book, action is effective because it tends to feel like quick movement to the reader. Dialogue is effective because it reads very quickly. Stop for a second and picture dialogue on the page. Dialogue leaves a great deal of white space on the page, which appears to be less intimidating to the reader. Your chapter openings can't be mundane. Get the reader into your new chapter before you slow things down and get into the nitty-gritty. Think of it this way. Picture a carnival with an announcer standing out front of a carnival tent. He's yelling out whatever he thinks will get customers to come inside and see his attraction. The experience inside the tent is different from what is occurring outside. Outside the tent. There are many other attractions, festivities, and enticements. This announcer has to not only yell to be heard above all of that noise, but also must say things that make what is inside his tent more intriguing than the countless possibilities on the outside? Well, such as life. Your readers can do a lot of other things besides read your chapter. They can get on social media, talk with friends, watch a movie or television show. Really, the options are endless. Get the point. You're chapter openings or that carnival announcer convincing your audience that you're chapter is a better use of your audience's time than everything else the audience could be doing instead. No pressure, right? Again, to ease the pressure, some, you can be cheap and gimmicky here. Have someone shoot a gun, spill some blood, announcer, pregnancy, whatever you can think of that can shock or captivate the reader long enough to reach the second page of the new chapter. 93. Romance Specific - cliffhanger: In this lecture, I'm going to discuss cliff hangers as it pertains specifically to the romance genre. Cliff hangers are especially easy for romance novels because of the relatively narrow focus of the genre. Speaking simplistically, nothing is more important than a developing romance. So while other genres have to keep numerous balls in the air, the romance genre reader ultimately only cares about one thing. Now, this isn't to say that the clip hangers need to be about one thing and one thing. Only romance novel cliff hangers can be about anything. The only real rule is that it needs to be about the emotional aspects of the story. For example, many mystery novels have cliff hangers based around the who done it scenario. However, the romance genre cliff hangers tend to be based on getting the character to an emotionally fraught to point in the story and then ending the scene there. The cliffhanger occurs by showing the hero or heroine and an emotional high point and then not to providing a resolution. It's necessary to push the point that romance novels are about the emotional story, not the physical story. This might be difficult to grasp because so many romance novels involved the gradual movement from handholding to cheek, caressing to Stolen Kisses, to passionate kisses, to lovemaking and so on. However, you will be doing yourself a disservice to precede a romance novel as a physical story. Keep in mind that behind every touch, every stolen kiss, every embrace is an emotional aspect that the romance reader longs to hear about. Whether the reader knows it or not. It isn't about the kiss. It isn't about that long anticipated embrace. Rather, it's about the feelings. It's about the emotional story that led up to and resulted in those physical moments. So a cliffhanger and a romance novel doesn't begin and end with a stolen kiss. It begins and ends with the emotional aspects that revolve around his lips against skin. Something else to keep in mind is that in real life, the physical and emotional relationship tend to develop in tandem. People in developing long-term relationship, we usually kiss when their emotions are mutually aligned to facilitate such physicality. But this isn't necessarily how it works in a romance novel. Not to confuse you, but it's best to think of the physical and emotional aspects of the developing relationship is both connected and distinct from one another. Put it another way. Because your goal is to tell an engaging story. You need multiple ways to push and pull your protagonist's apart. And together, they finally embrace, which is physically you fork. But during and afterwards their emotional lives are affected. What solves that physical problems, in turn, complicates the emotional problems and vice versa. You see by viewing the physical and emotional issues as both separate and connected, you give yourself plenty of fodder for telling a good story. Think of it this way. A story without conflict is a boring story. If you make the physical and emotional relationship run in tandem as they often do in the real world, then you are greatly reducing your story conflict options. Remember, while many romances are filled with physical acts, the reader isn't reading for those, whether they know it or not, they are reading for the emotional story. I'm hoping that such clarity will help you in creating your cliffhanger. Simply put, if you want your readers to turn the page after the chapter is ended, give them an emotionally driven reason to turn that page. 94. Chapter Ending - cliffhanger: In this lecture, I'm going to discuss how you should and your chapters. Intuition motivates most writers to treat chapters like many books, where every chapter ending, ends with a nice satisfying conclusion. This is a flawed strategy. If your goal is to make it difficult for the reader to put your book down. To begin, you need to understand that your objective with a typical chapter ending is to not leave your reader with a sense of completion, relief, or resolution. For example, closing a chapter with your lead falling asleep while motivate your reader to do the same. You want to end your chapter with a reason for the reader to continue reading. Now, before I go on, it must be made clear that you don't want every one of your chapters to end with a cliffhanger. Doing so can infuriate your reader. That said, there are techniques that allow you to close a chapter in a way that leaves the reader both satisfied and eager to start the next chapter. This can be done in many different ways. You can answer one question, but the answer raises another question. And the same light, you can resolve an important issue that was raised in a previous chapter, but doesn't resolve an important issue that was raised in that chapter. You can also add a chapter by revealing that a plot point is not as simplistic as the reader was originally led to believe. You can close by revealing a strong emotional under car that needs to be addressed. For example, while in a romantic situation, the couple just finish their long anticipated first kiss. But instead of the kiss offering the characters relief, it's somehow only made matters worse. Thus revealing that the kids only opened the floodgates to a dam with the characters did or didn't know was there. You can end a chapter with an intriguing twist, provided that you don't drop something totally new and unexpected into the story, The Twist needs to at least make sense to the reader. You can end in the middle of an action scene, because if you close the chapter at the end of the action, you risk giving the reader the sense of serine resolution that you are usually striving to avoid. You can end by asking a question that the reader will want answered. You can close by redirecting attention to the ticking clock. The list of techniques go on and on. I recommend picking up your favorite thriller and read the last few paragraphs of each chapter, determine the techniques that the author used and decide if you'd like to use a similar strategy in your book. A common technique that is used by many authors is to finish the chapter in a way that feels smooth to the writer. And then deleting that last paragraph or two that were used to brain that chapter to a smooth close. Obviously, this technique requires an editor's eye to see if it works, but I suggest that you try it. You may be surprised at how easy and effective this technique is. You can then consider finding a way to move those paragraphs you cut into later chapters. As an aside, oftentimes you will want to start the next chapter on some other equally interesting issue. This is a reason why many authors have multiple lead characters. You can pick up the next chapter at an exciting point and another character's life. The reader is then like, oh yeah, I was worried for this character too. 95. First Meeting: In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing the issues revolving around the heroes and heroines first meeting. I think it's best to work backwards in this case and start with discussing first meeting strategies that you should usually strive to avoid. If you're writing a romance and not a strong erotica, than the best practice is typically to avoid the technique of having your hero and heroine falling in love at first sight. Where they looked at each other across the room. And suddenly all of their thoughts and feelings are singularly focused upon carnal desire. Such as strategy may succeed in grabbing the readers initial attention, but it will be difficult to maintain a believable, romantic storyline throughout the books entirety. Remember, while physical attraction is certainly a major part of a romance, the emphasis in a romance novel is on the romance, on the question of whether or not the two will offer an accept each other's heart. In the end, the union of the hero and heroine needs to more closely resembled the meeting of soulmates than a relationship that could have been forged from a one night stand. With that warning, haven't been given. Your hero and heroine must be very aware of each other from the very first moment they meet. Strong emphasis needs to be given to this crucial moment. It doesn't really matter what your narrative technique is for your book. You need to write this scene by providing an obvious awareness that your hero and heroine is paying close attention to the other. For example, in the book Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, when Bella has her first real encounter with Edward, she has drawn by the fact that she will be sitting next to such an attractive, mysterious, and obviously alpha male. Edward, On the other hand, was not repulsed. His reaction was actually the opposite. He was so drawn to her blood, he wanted her so badly that he had to recoil to fight back is savage temptation. So you see in this example, the two are attracted to one another, but their first thoughts aren't to go jump into the sack. Another technique you usually want to avoid is hatred. At first sight. Hatred is good because it is a powerful emotion. You can use powerful emotions to strengthen your story because emotion is ultimately what your romance reader is after. So for example, if you have the heroines storming towards a colleague's office and an absolute fury. The entire time she's walking towards his office door, she is thinking to herself how much he despises this mystery man that is suddenly undone her efforts. You should accrual words. She's planning to throw it this new man at the office that is already caused her so much trouble, she blows past his secretary's request to be announced first and barges into his office uninvited. This is the moment where her anger starts to wane. She notice his paintings on the walls of inviting places and trinkets on their shelves of things she's always appreciated. She finds herself instantly attracted to not only his handsome complexion, but also by the way, he remains calm despite her aggressive entrance. In other words, despite the setup, this isn't a scene depicting hatred at first sight. They can dislike each other at first. In fact, usually it's best to make them not get along at first because that offers manageable conflict for you to work with. The typical problem with the hatred at first sight technique is that it's usual underpinning is based on a relatively simple misunderstanding. And there's usually two problems associated with this. One, the conflict isn't strong enough when ultimately all the hero and heroine have to do is sit down and have an adult discussion to resolve this misunderstanding. And second, it depicts the hero and heroine to be characters that jump to conclusions. Meaning it's difficult for the reader to root for the hero or heroine because they have essentially proven themselves to be shallow people. Again, to reiterate, there's a difference between hatred at first sight and dislike at first sight. People having a dislike can be persuaded to change their minds. Hatred, on the other hand, demonstrates a commitment to anger towards another person. Okay, moving on. As you know, the romance genre has been around for a while and due to its prolonged presence, there have been first neat techniques that have been used so frequently that they have become cliches. Unless you can put a unique spin on the following examples, it's best to avoid them. When the hero and heroine first touch, whether accidental or otherwise, they both feel an electric shock. Something akin to static electricity. For example, during a first encounter, the heroine touches the hero who has a vampire. He immediately notices the warmth of her hand and she instantly detects his cold skin. This is pretty much the same thing as the electric shock. By all means, use this technique if you must, but just realize it isn't as original as you probably think it is. Another common technique is to have the hero and heroine literally collide. They are driving in their vehicles and have a collision and meet as a result of that crash. Or she accidentally walks into him and then his body is compared to something akin to a wall. Similarly, the heroine falls from some elevated position and the hero catches her before she hits the ground. Lastly, either she or he walked into a room and accidentally catches the other wearing only a towel. Something you should keep in mind about first encounters is the issue of first impressions. We all make and give first impressions in real life. So too is the case for literature. Typically speaking, we are more inclined to like or dislike someone based upon how similar or dissimilar they are from us. And this criteria is so wide reaching that it can be applied to almost anything. Nationality, political stance, you name it. So it helps to know ahead of time what the internal conflict is going to be between your hero and heroine. Because if you already know the internal conflict. You can decide just how similar or dissimilar you need to make them first appear to be. Of course, as the story progresses, you can show them to be more similar or dissimilar than they previously thought. But by that point, the first impression stage will have already passed. For example, the heroin is a pacifist who thinks physical conflict always only creates more problems. The hero, on the other hand, is a gorgeous warrior. Sure, he's as handsome as a man can be, but his very profession goes against all that she stands for. So in their first meeting, she's wearing a hippy outfit with peace signs all over her clothes. He shows up wearing camouflage and the pistol he's licensed to carry. Or make them both piece advocates. If you need them to get along right away, you need to know ahead of time how long your story is going to be. Because such information will not only help you decide when to have the 2 first meet, but also how strong or complicated you make the conflicts that keep them from there happily ever after. If you're writing a much longer book, you can develop the hero and heroine for the reader before they meet. However, in most cases, you don't want to wait too long to have the hero and heroine meet. If you're writing a book that exists on the fringes of a romance novel, you have much more leeway. For example, in Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, the heroine doesn't meet Edward Rochester until relatively far into the book. Just be aware that in most cases, a reader of romance picked up your book to see the developing romance. The longer you make modern readers weight, the more likely they will trade your book for another. Keep in mind that the first meeting between your hero and heroine does not necessarily need to be long. Whether you make the first encounter brief or long, or if you immediately set the two apart or aligned, you need to make it clear that whether they like it or not, there is an attraction between them. If nothing else, the to10 to at least be physically attracted to one another, or at least some underlying appeal from which to build a deeper attraction. Otherwise, transforming your story into a romance will be intensely difficult. Because you'll be trying to build a deep, meaningful and lasting relationship with NO foundation from which to work with. So here's an optional assignment. Go to Amazon's Kindle bookstore and use the Preview option to find how and when popular remits books have their hero and heroine first meet. Study these authors approaches and write down what first meet strategies work and don't work. And why. Look to see if the author allowed the reader to first get familiar with the hero and heroine before they first meet. In what ways did the hero and heroine like each other? And what ways where they shown to be set apart in this scene. Lastly, be sure to include this scene in your book when the hero and heroine first meet. All too often, this vital scene takes place offstage and the reader just gets an account of that first meeting. This first meeting scene should usually be one that you show rather than tell. If the hero and heroine knew each other long before this romance is set, then consider writing a flashback scene. Really do your best to get a live account of this first meeting. Also, when writing this scene, take into consideration whose point of view you're telling it from. Use this perspective to your advantage. The normal point of view for this meeting is the heroines, because it offers a good opportunity to provide a physical description of the hero. So if you are writing this scene from the heroines point-of-view, Be sure to not only describe his physical attributes, but also why those physical qualities are appealing to her specifically. Then if you can move into non-physical descriptions like how she feels around him, what thoughts she's having, etc. Now, if you're writing a scene from the hero's perspective, you usually want to avoid his physical description of the heroin or at least keep them vague, general, or otherwise minimal, because the heroin is essentially the readers conduit into the story. The heroine is the reader. In essence, if he comments how he really likes her green eyes and your reader's eyes or brown. This description disrupts the readers fantasy. 96. Hero's Focus on the Heroine & the Heroine's Focus on the Hero: In this lecture, I'm going to be elaborating on some of the dynamics that should occur between your hero and heroine. Keep their attraction to each other, obvious to the reader. If you want, you can keep the hero oblivious to the heroines attraction towards him and vice versa. But the reader needs to know and be frequently reminded that the hero is attracted to the heroine and vice versa. Some ways to do this is to have when thinking about the other, when they are physically apart, out of sight, but not out of mind, so to speak. These thoughts can involve them trying to talk themselves out of their attraction to the other. But despite their best efforts, they can't trick themselves into not being attracted to the other. A different example is to have the thoughts of the other come up during opportune times. Yet another way to reveal attraction is to have the hero and heroine elaborate on very specific things that they like about the other person. These specific things don't necessarily have to be physical. In fact, your hero and heroine need to be attracted to more than the others physical appearance. But I think using a physical detail as an example best illustrates this point. Instead of having to heroin say to herself that he's hot or he's handsome, or he's gorgeous or other vague terminology. Have her offer focus on his eyes for his eyebrows, or is arms or well, whatever. But don't just talk about the fact that she likes this feature of his, but why she likes this feature or why these features are capturing her attention. And keep in mind that these don't have to be details that are associated with beauty. For example, the hero may have a scar that the heroine finds intriguing because it reinforces the story about how he single-handedly saved the entire village. Along these same lines, you want to avoid comparing your hero and heroine to currently famous people in the real world. It may be easy and effective to say the hero has George Clooney smile and Brad Pitt's prime physique. But doing so will make it impossible for your book to enter the testaments of time. Case in point. Cluny and pit aren't the masculine Gems they once were. C. The point, I know it's tempting to use this shortcut, but don't do it. Now, another way to display attraction is to offer excuses for your hero and heroine to touch each other. She picks off a piece of lint from his suit. He pulls her close to protect her from something not life threatening. Whatever you can think of. Deep down, they want to touch each other, but they can't because of the internal conflict. But lo and behold, an innocent opportunity arrives for one to touch the other, and they seize that chance. Another way is to have the hero and heroine find commonalities despite their potentially vast differences. The fact that they are striving to find something in common reveals that at least some part of them is trying to discover a way to forge a bond between them. This brings up another point while plotting or while writing. Keep asking yourself how and why do the hero in heroines feelings change for each other? What causes a change in perspective that forces the one to see the other differently. Okay, moving on. Also, the reason that they like or dislike the other person should make sense to the reader. This reason doesn't necessarily need to be logical, but it needs to be believable to the reader. Keep the often overlooked actions that frequently serve as building blocks to something more substantial in mind. Such as the characters displaying signs of respect, carrying tenderness, and an agreeable sense of humor. You should try to develop physical intimacy and emotional intimacy separately. If you develop them separately, you provide yourself with double the fuel needed to power your story. Another element to keep in mind is point of view. Remember to use point of view as a means to not only reveal their attraction to the other, but also as a way to reveal the characters shifting perspectives of the other. Keep in mind that men and women think differently. This means that your heroes thoughts and perspectives, the things he notices will be different than the heroines experience. And to go over sexual chemistry and tension again, keep in mind that sexual chemistry is best perceived as the internal force that pushes the hero and heroine together. This chemistry should be apparent to the reader as soon as the hero and heroine meet. Even if at this point the two aren't getting along. Sexual tension is the force that makes the two continue to crave one another physically. Although you can use emotional devices to play into sexual tension. It may help to consider sexual tension as being a mixture of uncertainty and hope. Here's a round about way of conceiving sexual tension that I think will help you better understand the sensation you're striving to evoke in the reader. Alfred Hitchcock was once asked, Why has tails are so frightening. He explained in his answer that there's a substantial difference between shock and terror. To create terror in such a scenario, you show the audience a threat and then make the audience wonder if that threat will cause harm. For example, you show an audience of Bohm hidden underneath the heroes bed. But the hero doesn't know about it. As the timer counts down to 0, the audience is kept in terror by the concern as to whether or not the hero will escape the explosion. You can perceive sexual tension the same way. The two immediately jumping into bed together is the horror story equivalent of the jump scare. The Hitchcock effect is more aligned with what you want to do when creating sexual tension. Where the audience is fully aware of what could happen and our left chewing their nails in anticipation. Now, we need to talk about love. You can't just have the hero and heroine fallen love out of nowhere. In fact, in most cases, the primary focus of your story needs to be built around how to move the two towards love. It's often the case that you want the reader to understand that the two are in love before the hero and heroine node that they are. Next, you need to have a special scene when your hero and heroine admits to themselves that they are in love with the other. Even if this character is just talking to themselves. This is a time when you need to slow the story way down and give special focus to this vital realization. Glossing over such a scene can severely hurt your story. So you probably want to give preliminary tension as to exactly when the hero and heroine admit to themselves that they are in love with the other. For example, a fast-moving action sequence is probably not the best time. In closing. It needs to be said that even though the open commitment and the pronouncement of the mutual I love you is typically the climax in a romance novel. Once this moment occurs, you cannot have them forget about the external conflict and the other plot elements that have yet to be resolved. Be sure to deliver on all of your promises to the reader. If you introduce a problem to the reader and repeatedly gave that problem time and attention, then you have an essence promised to the reader that this problem will, for better or worse, find a resolution. You need to keep your promises, which is why you need to be careful about what promises you make to the reader. Don't bite off more than you can chew. In other words. 97. Sexual Tension: In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing the matters revolving around sexual tension. The basic formula for creating sexual tension is to reveal that your hero and heroine heavy sexual interest in the other, and then to keep them from acting on that desire. Another thing to keep in mind is that in many cases, having your heroin and hero have sex does not necessarily abolish the sexual tension. I mean, of course there is no sexual tension while they are in the act of having sex. Let me explain. Say for example, that you have your hero and heroine finally given to their temptation and have sex. And they engage in this activity thinking that it will ease the sexual tension between them. And then through either showing or telling you, as the writer revealed just how much the two enjoyed it. And then you escalate the internal or external conflict that pressures them to not have sex again. And this in turn, actually makes this sexual tension even more profound because they are fully aware of the extreme pleasure that is now just out of their reach. You can further tease at this frustration by then allowing them to have a passionate kiss. They are just about to move to the next step when something interrupts them. Important to understand that in most cases, the reader doesn't perceive the sex as the books pinnacle. Rather, the, I love you. I need to spend the rest of my life with you. Declaration is typically a romance books apex. So if you want to write a highly sexualized book, you can lean on sex as a vehicle for creating conflict. A little warning though, sex scenes are especially difficult to write well. So the more sex scenes you include, the more challenging writing your book becomes. Therefore, I recommend that you have them have sex only as often as you absolutely need them too. And as I say in a different lecture, you can have sexual tension without them ever having sex. You should really consider your target audience when contemplating if, when and how often to have sex scenes. Like in the entire Twilight saga, I think they only had sex wants before the heroin became pregnant. And this pregnancy provided the plot for an entire book. Meanwhile, 50 shades of grey is full of sex scenes. Both were extremely successful and both heavily relied on sexual tension to attain their success. Put another way, you can use the actual sex scenes as plot points that give sway to your story's pacing. The plots builds to them having sex. They have sex. Thinking it will make things easier. It doesn't, it makes matters more complicated from which you build to another sex scene, which in turn only creates a new set of problems. Away you can ratchet up sexual tension is to have your characters have a dream about having sex. This puts the craving on vivid display for the reader. And the reader has to cut you some slack at this sex scene isn't perfectly written because it's actually taking place inside of a dream as opposed to in reality. In a similar light. You can use setting as a means of escalating the sexual tension. In other words, setting can function as a means of promoting sexual thoughts. For example, the cold air forces them to huddled together for warmth. What could they do with their bodies to get even more NMR? Or they are trapped in a dark cave with nothing to see but everything to feel. You get the point. Setting can be used as a way to escalate the sexual tension by having the environment promote their sexual desires. Your sex scenes should be character-driven, meaning that the timing of the sex scenes need to feel natural. In a different lecture, I described the bizarre experience that occurs in character-driven stories when writers find their story heading in a direction that they had not originally anticipated. Now, if that experience makes sense to you, then this is the same line of thinking that you should use to determine when you need to have a sex scene. It's vital that such scenes feel organic to the characters as opposed to functioning as some obvious plot point. Remember, your story outline often functions more as a guide than something rigid from which to strictly adhere to. Put another way, your outline is the equivalent of a map for a planned cross-country excursion. Elif point a with a predetermined route to arrive at point B. But lo and behold, a 100 miles into the trip, you pop a tire, pick up a hitchhiker, fight a tantalizing sightseeing destination, or discover a more efficient route that dodges the swamps in mountain roads. The point is that you should have a plan in mind. If for no other reason than to know where your final destination is, you're free to amend your route so long as you take that deviation into consideration when you replot your roadmap. Now, practically speaking, if you write yourself into a corner and you find yourself having to write a sex scene before you anticipated. Then you have two options. The first is to actually write the sex scene, but be sure to make things more challenging for the couple after they've mated. The second is to give a powerful reason to pull the two apart. If you choose the second option, you must use a plot point that you have already alluded to. You may have to backtrack and write in such foreshadowing. If the two are about to have sex and something stops them from that act, there needs to be a very good reason for that halting. And this reason needs to be something that the reader could anticipate. In my opinion, it's often best to delay having a sex scene while at the same time keeping the 2s craving for sex in the characters minds. Should the reader, the characters cravings, their anxiety, the fears associated with giving into temptation, and their uncertainties linked to there would be partner. Can she trust him? Can heat trust himself. Essentially, push and pull your character's minds to display the eternal battle between their carnal cravings and their self-denial. Another reason I support saving sex for the end, if not just having some quintessential kiss instead. Is that it's just human psychology to make the same actions depreciate in value the more frequently they occur. You can pick anything as an example. The first thing that comes to mind is music. Select a song that you absolutely adore. Then put that song on, repeat. The first time you hear that song, you'll dance. Maybe even sing along. The sixth time. You might hum along by a 100th repeat. You'll never want to hear that song again. By the 1000 listen, you'll hate nothing more. That same song mood from something cherished to something enjoyed, to something tolerated, to something out, right? Despised. The ones valued song remains the same. It was the novelty of it that changed. So too are sex scenes. The first sex scene can pack a powerful punch. But the second third have to be unusual or otherwise especially meaningful to be as moving as the first. And so it goes. Each sex scene, bringing with them greater challenges to retain the reader's interest. So you avoid this problem if you save the sex scene for the end. But this isn't a rule. You are free to have as many or as few sex scenes as you'd like or need. Typically, the first sex scenes appear around two-thirds of the way into the book. On the whole, you are probably in good shape as long as you understand that these scenes need to influence the direction of your story, it's helpful to remember that you can raise sexual tension by putting emphasis on every accidental touch, on every kind statement, as long as it stirs up an emotional reaction. Also, always keep in mind that you have multiple senses with which to work with. Taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight, and even the sixth sense, if you so choose. Don't just use the sense of touch when trying to capture and sustained sexual tension. Creating sexual tension is a lot easier than sustaining it. There are three main ways to weaken or even kill tension. One is repetition, which I've already discussed with the song example. The second is catharsis, which I went over when I discussed the need to keep your characters openly revealing their positive feelings for each other with holding the, I love you. In short. The definition of catharsis is the process of releasing and thereby providing relief. Strong or repressed emotions. This is the reason why it's vital for you to make the act of sex not only resolve nothing between the two of them, it actually needs to make matters more complicated because the act of sex is a physical form of literary catharsis. A lot of wind will be let out the back as soon as they physically engage. So much tension is released that your only focus after the act is to not only build the tension backup, but to bring that tension to a higher level than it was before. The third way is to collapse one of the opposing forces. Capitulation. As an example of this, if two people are having an argument, tension is taking place. If one of the two outright surrenders and agrees that the other person is correct, then all tension is lost. Keep this one in mind when you are writing a seduction scene. In closing, it's my belief that intimate scenes are more important than sex scenes. Unless the subgenre demands it. It's usually the case that if you put emphasis on building an emotional connection through escalating encounters and intimate scenes where the latitudes of life do not belong. The placement of the sex scenes will take care of themselves. Passion over lust, love over adoration. You need lust and adoration. But they should be the consequences, not the bonds that hold the hero and heroine together. That is, of course, unless you're chosen sub-genre demands otherwise. 98. Wait to Give Backstory - part 1 : In this section, I'm going to be discussing how you should include your backstory. First, I need to begin by providing you with a perspective that should help you to better understand storytelling. One of the first questions you might ask yourself when you first sit down to write is, how do I begin the story? Here's the thing I want you to understand. Every single story begins in the middle. This is to say that it is impossible to begin a story at the absolute beginning, because there's always something relevant to the story in some form or fashion that proceeds where you open your book. At first, there was the Big Bang. Well, what was there before the Big Bang? What caused the big bang? Having been born this very second, this is little Susie's first moment into world. Well, who are her parents? How did her mother and father meet? What are the circumstances of Susie's conception? What are her grandparents and great grandparents stories? After all, little Susie wouldn't have been born without her ancestors having stories of their own. Every single story begins in the middle in medias res. So here's the point, because you have to begin your story in the middle. As a writer, you're going to feel the need to write backstory. This could be a backstory about your setting, your characters, and your plot. So you might be thinking, Well, if I had to include backstory, that I might as well get all of that out in front. Put this information in the beginning, get the reader caught up right away. While this strategy makes practical sense, it's actually a storytelling technique that is very likely to repel the modern reader. The beginning of your book ultimately only has one goal to hook the reader. A history lesson or a setup to your fictional world is not a hook. The reader doesn't yet have any vested interest in your story and your characters. So why should your reader care about your backstory? Sure, your reader might need the backstory to fully grasp your tail, but it isn't the readers need you're concerned with early in the book. It's the readers want that should remain your focus. This isn't to say that you can't have backstory in the beginning of your book. It's just that you're doling out of backstory information should begin small and increase as the story continues. The earlier you are in your story, the more the character related backstory it needs to be directly relevant to clarify the protagonists motivation. Who we are as a person is heavily related to our past experiences. In this light, an important way of revealing who you are protagonists are is to reveal their backstory. Backstory can provide the necessary context for the reader to grasp what's your protagonists want and why. More than this backstory can provide the nature and nurture explanations as to why a character is a certain way, backstories and just a tool for characterization. You can use it to clarify setting as well. For example, this is a story of a landfill was swamps, snakes and scaly things, dark forest filled with priors and poisonous plants. In the center of this land is a castle shrouded in dense binds. Later in the story, you come to discover that this uninvited landscape was once covered with sweet smelling flowers. With the trees bore fruit, very creatures felt right at home. And the castles marble stone was on full display. This setting has a story, a backstory as to how that landscape changed from one extreme to the other. Backstory can also be used for plot. For example, what is the origin of the stories conflict? You don't find out all of the specifics of Lord Voldemort and his relationship with Harry Potter right away. You must first come to care about the characters and the world as it is today. Before you begin the gradual process of learning the details of the conflicts, origin story. 99. Wait to Give Backstory - part 2 : Emphasis needs to be given to the point that backstory needs to be doled out. The reader should learn the backstory gradually as the story progresses. This is especially true at the story's early stages. For example, when it comes to characterization, you should try to only have three sentences of backstory within the first 2500 words of your story. These three sentences can be spread out or together. You should keep the backstory to three paragraphs within the next 2500 words. Three common ways to provide backstory is due narration, dialogue and the use of flashbacks. Providing backstory via narration would simply until you just giving the backstory to your reader outright. Dialogue is an effective way to provide backstory because dialogue feels more to the readers as if they are participating in discovery or involved in the action. Using dialogue will also help you from spinning too many words on writing backstory. Flashbacks are extremely effective for providing backstory. Simply put, flashbacks or full scenes that reveal the past. They're usually written in present tense such that a past event is being relieved. Flashbacks are difficult to use. Well, it's one of the writing tools that can help you or severely hurt your stories flow. They need to occur at locations in the story that make perfect sense. In terms of pacing, flashbacks risk slowing the stories paste down. So the flashback should usually occur after or within a fast-paced scene. Because if you put the flashback in an already slow paced scene, you risk slowing the pace too much and losing the reader's interest. Think of the example of Jason Bourne learning his true history via a flashback that occurs within a long chase scene sequence. 100. Wait to Give Backstory - part 3 : Alright, so let's get into the mechanics of using a flashback. If you're submitting your story for traditional publication, then you should consult one of their published works and see how that publishing house formats flashbacks. They might prefer that flashbacks be written in italics, for example. However, it's more likely that flashbacks should be differentiated by using a different spacing or formatting scheme. You're flashbacks should not be sprung upon the reader. You need to not only make sure that the flashbacks or aligned with what you are currently talking about in your story. You also need to create a smooth transition from the stories present to the stories passed. If this flashback takes the form of a character remembering that consider spinning a paragraph discussing how the character is trying to access their memory. Thomas sat in a chair, closed his eyes, put his head in his hands, and thought back. Then you'd begin to flashback as if it were depicting a current event. After your flashback is complete, you should make it clear to the reader that the flashback is over and the reader is now back in the present world. Thomas took his head out of his hands, opened his eyes, stood up from the chair and called out to the puppy that was harassing the ducklings. If you see that your flashback is enormous, requiring a chapter of its own, for example, consider breaking that flash back into smaller pieces and sprinkle endo smaller pieces at appropriate times in your story. Lastly, you are free to embellish the flashback only so far as it makes it interesting. Remember, unless you're flashback is some pinnacle part of the story, you're flashback is likely slowing down your stories pace. So you usually want to get in and out of them as quickly as you can. In fact, this guideline pretty much applies to all backstory. You don't want to get lost in the weeds. Figure out what is absolutely necessary and explain only those elements as interestingly as possible. A popular tactic for making a presentation of backstory interesting is to present the backstory at you have already made the reader curious about the historical information. How did that, once beautiful landscape becomes so unpleasant? How did Harry Potter survive Voldemort's attack? Make the reader curious. You then feed this curiosity. Then your backstory is interesting because it's satiating a longstanding curiosity. 101. Love Triangle : In this section, I'm going to be discussing the use of love triangles. Your goal with a love triangle is to make it difficult for the reader to know who the heroine is going to choose. This is accomplished by having two male leads that are dynamically written. This means that both of these heroes feel real and complete. The reader needs to have a genuine reason to care about these two men. Two main can be different from one another, but they need to be very appealing in their own way. For example, one is an alpha loner Bad Boy, and the other is an alpha leader. They are both the best at what they do and their area of expertise can even be in conflict with one another. A popular example is playing on how where wolves and vampires don't get along. But they are both very much alphas despite their vast differences. Another common characteristic plays on the diversity of human psychology. Meaning that the heroin can cared deeply for one hero for a certain set of reasons and care for the other hero for a different set of reasons. For example, the heroine has two main needs and she has to get the met by two different men. Not the best example, but certainly a clear cut one occurs and Joe, Joe annoys me before you. In this story, the paralyzed hero gives Lou what she needs psychologically, and her athletic boyfriend gives her what she needs physically. Such a dynamic keeps the story interesting, largely because you are free to explore the emotional tug of war within the heroines psyche. The love triangle can offer re-listen to a story by thoroughly portraying just how messy love is. Love is often idolized as being this perfectly beautiful thing. Well, showing the heroin being torn between two men reveals that the heart doesn't always make things easy on a person. Such an approach will allow you to reveal loves cruel staying, as well as its magical embrace. Now, the challenging aspect of running a successful love triangle is that there are many inherent problems in additional difficulties that such a theme provides. One key problem to look out for revolves around the catch-22 of both needing to fully develop all three characters and the sensation that the story is dragging on for too long. Another potential problem has to do with the subject of infidelity and monogamy. It's sometimes the case that the heroine has an ongoing physical relationship with both males. Such a dynamic is fine for nine tenths of the story, but it makes the conclusion more difficult to write. A large part of the happily ever after ending is successfully convincing the reader that these two will happily remained together forever. It's just harder to make such permanent convincing without the monogamy theme to support it. It can be done. Of course, many romances have done it well. It's just harder. A common technique to pull it off is to successfully show how one of the men is harming or truly neglecting the heroine. The reader is then more likely to sympathize with the heroines choices. The problem here is that this technique has been used so much that it's difficult to use it in a fresh, new way. Another issue revolves around a near certainty that there will be a loser. One of the three is going to be disappointed. And because in most cases, you want the reader to care about all three, having a clear loser may upset your reader. This issue is typically resolved by showing that the loser finds a mate that is actually better suited for him. So the reader doesn't have to feel sorry for him. What happened at the conclusion of the Twilight saga is an example of this. Another challenging aspect that needs to be overcome has to do with emotional repetition. A romance novel is about the emotional story. But to clarify this point, I'll need to use a physical illustration. How boring would it be to read the following actions? She stood up, she sat down. She stood up. She sat down. She stood up. She sat down. She stood up and walked over to the kitchen, got some water, then walked back to the chair and sat down. She stood up and so on. While the emotional equivalent of this is the heroin moving back and forth between the two suitors. It's important that each of the heroines switching perspectives are based upon something unique. A common problem with love triangles occurs when the heroine arrives at a point when she must choose one of the men. The writer than feels inclined to make this decision easy on the heroine by providing a scene that makes it instantly clear that one is wrong for her. Ideally, this process of pushing her towards one and away from the other should usually be gradual. The love triangle has been part of the romance genre since the beginning. Most of us know the story of King author Sir Lancelot and Gwyneth, we're, the love triangle has existed since the beginning because it's a winning theme. However, it's been done so many times that today it's difficult to write a love triangle story in a new way that also keeps the reader in Treat. It can be done. But unless you're up for the challenge, I recommend waiting to write such a book. 102. The Kiss: In this lecture, I'm going to be discussing the kiss. It should go without saying that the kiss is important. The leading up to the during and the part after the kiss can accomplish a great deal for your story. Kisses aren't something to rush through unless you are trying to make the point that the romance has left the couple. So where to begin? How about with what to avoid? People that have studied the mating rituals of humans have noticed that women don't like to be surprised on approach. They want to see the gentleman caller coming as opposed to him sneaking up behind her. A lot of this has to do with the woman needing to feel relatively safe and comfortable before she is able to feel erotic attraction. I've gone over this in another lecture. So in brief, while an atmosphere of danger will evoke a man's lust, a female's erotic hunger usually occurs. We're feeling threatened is not an issue. So if your hero is going in for the kiss, it's best if he doesn't surprise her unless they already have a well-established relationship. Such a kiss, while fun to write, is not believable. Alright? So let's talk about the cheek kiss. In most cases, you want your hero to depict alpha behavior. This means that when he goes in for the kiss, you should go for the heroines lips. If the heroine turns her cheek than she is signaling that such a kiss is too early or that she's simply not attracted to him. So if she turns her cheek, You're going to need to use dialogue to demonstrate that it's a matter of her not being ready as opposed to her not being attracted. Because if she isn't attracted, then that can kill your book. Now, you don't want your hero to initially go for her cheek. Such a move doesn't represent alpha behavior. He needs to exude confidence. So unless you believe yourself capable of making a deliberate cheek kiss appear to be coming from a place of high confidence, then you should have your hero aim for the heroines lips. So how should the hero go in for the kiss? Well, to start off, I need to preface this with stating that this is a matter of opinion. Obviously, there is no one correct way. That said, what I recommend is the following. First of all, you need to portray the signs that the heroin wants to be kissed. I'll get to these signs in a moment. Along these lines, the heroes kiss shouldn't surprise her. She may be eager to be kissed by him. But seeing lips quickly approaching her face without preparation can cause sort of Dodge as one would have thrown rock. Hero should maintain strong eye contact with her, only to break it here and there to look at her lips. If he speaks, he should speak seductively. This means not using TZ lines. Ask yourself what words would make your heroine feels special, safe, and desired. Contrary to current culture, you don't want him to ask her if he can kiss her. His body should do the asking in her body should do the answering. The question of MAY I kiss you destroys the powerful allure that anticipation provides for women. Half the whole scene move slowly where they match each other's breathing. In fact, it's often best if you make them hold and move their body in an identical fashion. This process is called mirroring. There are actual neurons in our brain that revolve around this process. Copying each other's movements is one of the best ways to establish strong rapport. Think of the kissing scene as a dance where the way they move their bodies are in tune with one another. Have your hero moving close to her before he kisses her, to step into her life space, if you will, then have him use his hand to touch or otherwise corrects the top of her arm while maintaining strong eye contact. More specifically, hath him focus in on her left eye, then on her right, and then bring his gaze to her lips, and then back to our eyes again. The touch on her forearm communicates a great deal to the reader. He flinch when his hand touched her arm? Or did she welcome it? Even if your heroes and alpha, this touch shouldn't be aggressive, forceful or rushed, it needs to be slow, gentle, and deliberate. If his touches welcomed, then his hand can delicately move to her hair and maybe even her face. And then he should go in for the kiss. Here's a little warning though. You really only get one scene where your hero can run his fingers through her hair. This is one of those moves that the romance reader has seen so many times that if you do it more than once, you will annoy the reader. After the kiss has taken place. He should smile at her. And then as strange as it sounds, bringing the conversation back to something plot related or something unrelated to the kiss. He needs to give off the vibe of comfort, satisfaction, and an interest in something more than her body. And remember the mirror neurons keep their bodies in tune. If he laughs, Associate she, if she looks away, he should to. Lastly, remember that a kiss is not just a kiss. It is also a hint of what is yet to come. To be blunt. A kiss can tell her just how good he is embed. Is he demanding, forceful, clumsy, selfish, or as a slow, gentle, methodical, and generous? Does he know what he's doing? Well, he leave her satisfied or frustrated. How you relate this information is up to you and your chosen narrative stands. If it's in first-person, You can be rather direct. You can hear her thoughts explicitly say what she's experiencing and assuming from his kiss. If it's third person, you'll likely have to insinuate, do descriptive language what the kiss is telling the heroine. Alright, so now I'm going to go over signs that you should consider giving your heroin to signal that she has opened to a kiss. First off, you shouldn't really consider the signs to be a true false on off yes-no type situation. She's looking at his lips. It could be communicating that she's thinking about a kiss or maybe not. But if he's looking at her lips and she notices this and in turn starts looking at his lips, then it's more likely a sign that your heroin is contemplating a kiss. Moving on. If you have your heroin, look at his lips while her eyes are a little bit narrowed, softened, and wearing an imaginative expression, then you are providing a signal that your heroin wants to be kissed. If you then have your heroin gently nibbling on our lips and inconspicuously licking them. Then she is making her lips softer and physically prepared for a kiss. In such a scenario. If she finds an excuse to touch him, then she showing signs that she is romantically interested. This touch can even be as extreme as a playful punch. Though. I don't recommend having her punch him before kiss. Next is her voice. If her tone dips and is noticeably breathy than she is conveying an auditory invitation into her life space. As N, I have a secret to tell you. Come closer so that I can whisper it to you. As already mentioned. If you have your heroin offering one of these signs, then this doesn't clearly communicate to the reader that she's open to a kiss. However, if you offer more or all of these signs and the reader will know that the kiss is welcomed. In most cases, your hero needs to initiate the actual act of the kiss. This is of course, dependent on the nature of your hero and heroine and plot goals. In conclusion, I recommend that you include passages and various scenes that lead up to the kiss. Such passages should include the physical act of touching. He finds an excuse to touch her and she doesn't flinch. She picks lint off of his jacket and he doesn't flinch. They touches can and in fact should be subtle. Such touching is a kind of test in secret for play, for the kiss, potentially, long ahead. 103. Two Steps Forward One Step Back - part 1 doneTwo Steps Forward One Step Back - part 1 : This course covers a great deal about the nuances of writing fiction. Despite this vast amount of information, you must remember that romance novels are on the whole simplistic in nature. The primary focus is always only on the developing relationship. If you forget this point, you're likely to find yourself writing a story that can no longer be considered a romance novel. The temptation to deviate too far from the developing romance is enormous. I understand that. To combat this temptation, I'm going to discuss a different story plotting method that is really only relevant to the romance genre. In simplistic terms, this plotting method can be described as a plot that involves the hero and heroine taking two steps forward and one step back in terms of their relationship. Plotting your story within such parameters increases the likelihood that you will keep your story focused on the developing romance. You don't want your hero and heroine to romantically get together to quickly. At the same time. You want to demonstrate that your hero and heroine are moving towards a happily ever after. Therefore, the way to begin this plotting technique is to conceive of your entire story as a series of individual scenes. You don't need to worry about such things as a three-act structure or the Q factor, or in fact, any tried and true plotting components. Rather, in this method, you are breaking the storytelling down to its most fundamental level as it pertains to the romance genre. The two began by taking two steps towards each other, towards a middle where they achieve their happily ever after. In a certain series of scenes, they take a couple steps towards this happily ever after. And the next couple of scenes, they take steps that move them further away from this happily ever after. This technique is more agreeable to those writers. They don't like to work from an outline. In this two steps forward, one step backwards plotting technique, you are allowing your characters to guide your plot. Through the process of writing, you come to know who your hero and heroine are, what they want. And then you allow their unique personality, the implications of their emotions, and their interaction with the plot to move them towards and away from their future companion. Your goal as a writer is to push your hero and heroine together and pull them apart through a series of scenes until you feel like you've denied them their happiness long enough. 104. Two Steps Forward One Step Back - part 2 : I'm going to begin detailing this two steps forward, one step backwards plotting technique by discussing what the steps forward should look like. This steps forward are positive elements that are beneficial to the budding relationship. These are the scenes or seen segments that demonstrate that the two are moving towards fully committing to one another. The steps forward are largely motivated and supported by the early established point that the two are attracted to each other. The steps they take towards there happily ever after our steps, not leaps, meaning that they're progressing relationship is usually a gradual process with perhaps in a typical hop forward here and there. For example, the heroes saving the heroines life at great risk to himself would result in a larger than usual step towards the to establishing a satisfying union. This is perhaps a bad example because that thing to keep in mind when crafting romance novels is that the story exists in matters of emotion. This emotional foundation remains consistent, no matter what plotting method you use. What occurs in your story that makes the hero and heroine field differently towards the other. Fortunately for we writer's emotions aren't simple things. There are consequences to all things. Actions and reactions that stem from matters of the heart. For example, she finds herself wanting to different things. On one hand, she wants to allow herself to fall in love with the hero. On the other hand, she wants to pursue a goal and she can't have both. Choosing him will thus result in both joy and sadness because she will be getting in abandoning the two things she wants most. For example, she finds herself wanting to different things. On one hand, she wants to allow herself to fall in love with the hero. On the other hand, she wants to pursue a goal and she can't have both. Choosing him will thus result in both joy and sadness because she will be getting and abandoning the two things she wants most. The point here is the trade-off, the ability to make it clear that emotions have weight. It is conflict that makes our book Interesting. That causes our characters to grow. That tells us the most important scenes in our book and informs us when our stories pace needs to be fast or slow. 105. Two Steps Forward One Step Back - part 3 : Pace is a major part of this two steps forward, one step backwards method. A well-written story will demonstrate an understanding of the readers need for the quick and the slow. Readers get exhausted easily. They get bored easily. They hear the calling of the 1000 other things that they could be doing. Instead of reading. Fast-paced scenes will retain the reader's attention, but only until she becomes exhausted. A fast pace is usually facilitated by a lot of activity happening over a short period of time. We're matters of consequence are brought to the forefront. Battle scenes, car chase scenes. Scenes with a lot of action or activity taking place are usually fast paced scenes. However, such scenes will burn a reader out if they go on for too long. This is what you need a slow pace for to allow your readers to catch their breath and move into the more intimate elements of your story. So you need to consider pacing when deciding when to take your forward and backward steps. If too much is happening too quickly. If you're finding your stories action is thrusting the two into each other's arms to swiftly. You need a scene or two to pull them apart to slow the story down, to have them self-reflect and question their growing attraction. This is a difficult concept to successfully relay. So by way of analogy, it might help us to perceive your story as a river. The story begins with a to finding each other attractive. Here the river is rather quick. You can see the water's ripples as it glides around the rocks. As the river continues, the bed deepens and the shorelines grow closer. The waters pace accelerates as the 2s lust for Each Other grows. Eventually, the river widens and the waters bed becomes shallow. Here, the pace slows. Here a traveler upon these waters has the luxury to take a long leisurely look around. It is in this place on the river that the to make love. But I'll know this physical union only complicates things, which brings us to a waterfall down, down the two tumble, taking a giant step back on how much they had appreciated that rivers run, they must collect themselves and that's spinning, churning water as they move slowly towards that narrowing channel ahead. This example of a river should help you to better understand that a story is not a stagnant thing. It isn't a lake or pond. It's something moving, ever-changing, bringing with it new sites, new unexpected experiences around the next bend. And the nature of its movement hastens or slows, based upon that, rivers need to traverse that dynamic landscape and ultimately arrive at the ocean or the story's natural conclusion. Your hero and heroine cannot confess their love for one another. On page one, they must first travel that long river. You can't begin to River at the ocean. The points in your story where a character must make a decision are especially important with writing forward steps. Such points in the story occur with a heroine takes a right instead of a left at the rivers fork. An example of such a scene that is common amongst romance novels occurs when the hero directly or indirectly asked the heroin, if she trusts him. She must then decide whether or not to surrender control to him. In 50 shades of gray. This occurs when Christian binds and his hands in Twilight. This occurs before Edward carries Bella from tree top to treat top. And again, this decision needs to have a strong role in the emotional story. 106. Two Steps Forward One Step Back - part 4 : All right, so now I'm going to go over what the steps backward look like in this two steps forward, one step backwards plotting strategy. A story is only as interesting as it's conflict. In terms of the romance novel. What this means is that your reader does not want to see a couple comfortably moving towards a satisfying conclusion. In order for a romance novel to retain your reader's attention, your hero and heroine must confront obstacles that bring the arrival of there happily ever after into question. Even though a romance reader knows before she even picks up your book, that your hero and heroine will have there happily ever after Together. She wants to experience the anxiety, that suspense, that the two might not end up together. To better understand this, all you need to do is look at the appeal of the real life courtship process. In real life, the reader doesn't want to man, to just walk up to her out of the blue and immediately promises undying love and perpetual devotion to her. Even on the first or second date. She certainly doesn't want to hear the words I love you. She wants to hear those three words, but only after the exciting journey has been undertaken. Before this perfect conclusion She wants to experience loves thrilling rollercoaster. The rollercoasters spends in swirls, accelerates when the to connect on an emotional and physical level, the rollercoaster slows as it climbs towards the anxiety of whether or not he'll call or do as He promised. And then he does call a doesn't disappoint. And the roller coaster races down the incline towards the next passionate spin and swirl. Here's another way to look at it. This question should really capture what I'm striving to say. So how did you and your husband meet? This wife wants to answer this question with a story, a tale with highs and lows. Something that could be found in a fairy tale. She doesn't want to say, well, we both know what the start that we were good for each other. So we dated for a few months and everything went smoothly, so we got married and here we are. There's no juice in that, no excitement, nothing to be jealous about. She waited her whole life to meet Prince charming, and all he turned out to be was Mr. adequate. Still keep in mind that modern romances required mutuality. A good romance doesn't just show that after a lot of work, she got her prince charming, but that the hero got his princess as well. For example, after this wife answers the question of how she met her husband, she wants to hear a reply that U2 are great for each other, as opposed to, you're lucky. Now, few women in the real-world gets replied to that origin story question with a fully satisfying answer. But in a romance novel, you can supply the story that the reader wishes she could claim as her own. In other words, your romance novel allows your reader to live vicariously through your heroin. And this is where the step backwards comes in. It's what causes it gives emphasis to the excitement, to consuming wonder if the rollercoaster will fly off the tracks. This approach and taking forward and backward steps are not just relevant to the major aspects of the story, but to the relatively minor parts as well. When the two are about to kiss for the first time, you want to create a maintain the tension that their lips may not meet. You find a reason to bring their faces closer together, and then you provide a reason to pull their faces apart. You can break down this process across many scenes or one. Something you've seen over and over again in many romances is to have the two just about to kiss when something important and unexpected happens that interrupts that kiss. Someone barges in or there's an explosion or whatever they want to kiss, but they don't. And the fact that they don't, when it's clear that they want to kiss, makes that moment when they do actually kiss a memorable experience. Or you can have this forward and backwards process occur in a single scene. For example, you make the two essentially trip over themselves as they wrestle with the DUI or don't tie question until their lips finally meet. On the large-scale, This step backwards is the force that upsets the readers confidence that the hero and heroine are going to commit to each other. For example, the hero is a police officer in the heroin, is a thief. But they don't know this about each other until they've already secretly fallen in love with the other. They are just about to commit to each other when they discover that they are natural enemies. The step back in this case would be a scene where they realized that they cannot be together. There are really only two roles when it comes to these backwards steps. The first rule is that it must be believable. Whatever your step backwards is, it should feel natural to the plot and characters. The reader shouldn't feel the writers hand and the story. Meaning that the reader shouldn't see the new conflict as just a good place for conflict. If you mess up here, you can always go back and add some foreshadowing. Just write yourself a note to do this on a later draft. Fortunately, a benefit of this plotting method is that you are largely allowing your characters to write the story. So your step backwards should already be aligned with your characters. The second rule is that in matters of the plot, the step backwards shouldn't have an easy solution. For example, your reader is going to get impatient with you if you create a lot of conflict over an issue that could have been resolved with a quick adult conversation. 107. Order - bell plotting method: Now we're going to begin our discussion with the bell structure method. There are numerous beats in a story plotting approach. Each beat needs to happen in a prescribed order and accomplish their specified objective. The beats are as follows. For act one, there is the disturbance, the care package, the argument against transformation, trouble brewing, and the first doorway of no return. For the second act, there is the kick in the shins, the mirror moment, pet the dog. And the second doorway of no return. For act three, there is mounting forces, lights out the Q factor, the final battle, and the transformation. According to this approach, if a novel or a movie than act one would take 30 minutes, act two would take an hour, and Act Three would take 30 minutes. Act one introduces your protagonists and makes them worthy of the reader's attention and care. Backstory is kept to a minimum here. Thank Luke Skywalker buying some secondhand droids and Bilbo Baggins celebrating his 11th birthday. You introduce the problem to the reader in the first act, such as Luke's uncle and aunt being killed because of the vital Droids in his possession. And Frodo Baggins discovering that the essence of evil is hunting Bilbo's Enchanted Ring. This problem is connected to the first doorway of no return beat. According to this approach to writing fiction, it is easier to consider the story as being a bridge that is supported by two pillars. In story writing terms, these pillars are called the first doorway of no return. And the second a doorway of no return. The second doorway of no return involves the worst setback or the significant discovery that leads to the climax. Recall this scene where there is an Army between salmon Frodo and Mount Doom and them approaching the volcano anyway, or loop taking the chance to trust the force to destroy the Death Star. This is simply an introduction, just a section to help you get your bearings, so to speak. We will examine all of the beats in detail. 108. Disturbance: The book opens with the disturbance speed. This is the books hook. Think of it this way. The story starts when you light the match, not when you're laying out the kindling. The disturbance is when the protagonist encounters some sort of profound change, something happens that has disrupted the protagonist is status quo. This is probably the best place in the course to discuss how you should open your book in general. So let's do that. You want to start by raising a question in the reader's mind. But you don't want to start with the protagonists thinking. This is a common mistake. You want to make the reader care about the character first before sharing thoughts. You also want to avoid starting with backstory, flashbacks, and dream sequences. Backstory is slowly divvied out and should rarely happen in the very beginning. You also don't want to put long paragraphs here. The beginning needs to both move quickly and appear in fighting on the page. Short paragraphs, dialogue, use techniques early on that leave a lot of white space on the page. The less dense the beginning appears, the more inviting it will be to the curious reader. There's widespread mixed feelings from authors about prologues. Some authors swear by them. Other authors report that many agents don't like prologues. A prologue is typically a brief seen usually no longer than a page or two. Because the use of a prologue technically gives you two beginnings. You must also start this section off with a hook. But it doesn't need to resemble the disturbance speed, meaning it doesn't have to represent sudden change. Ok, so back to openings in medias res, into the middle of things. You want to start your book in the middle of the action. While something interesting is taking place, this tactic immediately engages the reader. Start with the scramble of an already sinking ship, the apex of a heated argument, a bullet fired, you get the point. Something of consequences about to happen. The reader just needs to get to a couple of pages to find out if they survive or who wins. Also, keep in mind that situations reveal character. So your objective is multi-fold. Start with action, start with movement. Start with something at stake. But always keep in mind to put emphasis on character. For example, think about the opening of The Wizard of Oz. How the characters react in this opening emergency creates the first impression for the reader. It's important to get this right. You don't need to make the readers like your lead character, but you do need to make them care. You can start with dialogue, but if you do, the pressure is really on to get it right. The dialogue must not only be thought-provoking for the reader, it must also prove to the reader that this speaker is worth listening to for an entire book. You want to start with dialogue that thrust the reader both right into the scene and also into the mindset of the speaker. For example, did you really think you're gonna get away with it? You see dialog adds to the sense of immediacy to the scene. And also take notice how beginning with the question can ensnare the reader's attention. Now, if you start with dialogue, it is especially important that you pay special care to your dialogue tags. He said, she said, While preferred anywhere else in the story, these tags should not appear in the beginning. Each word is precious here. Use your tags to add descriptive language. For example, Ella noticed that she had whispered that accusation. The courage that she had felt while stomping into that lavished room, had abandoned her. The gist is to hit as many birds with one stone as you can. If you start with something visual, you need to make it both quick and palpable. Again, in the beginning, you want to be especially vigilant to avoid sprawling language. Starting with one to three sentences of descriptive language should be enough. Here's an easy gauge to use after reading your opening. If you feel that your reader could still be lost as to what is going on, then you have started too late in the story. Conversely, if you feel the reader knows too much, such as including informative backstory, then you started the opening too early. You want to hit that sweet spot between confusion and clarity. Now, it is possible to delay the disturbance speed for a few pages. For example, you can show the normal routine of the lead. Therefore, the disturbance has the potential of jumping out better. Harry Potter comes to mind as an example. Harry doesn't discover that he has magic by making the glass disappear at the very beginning. That change that launches off the story comes a little later. The problem with delaying the disturbance is that today's reader has been conditioned for instant gratification. If you're waiting a dozen pages before you tried to ensnare your reader's attention, and you may be forfeiting your only opportunity. However, the benefit of this delay is that you have the opportunity to make the reader care about the character before you rain change upon them. It's just human nature to feel more sympathy for a person we are familiar with, then for those that we don't know, consider the pros and the cons before making your decision to delay the disturbance speed. Now, you want to start writing with something that the reader can immediately identify with. Even if you're writing a paranormal, a fantasy, or science fiction, you want to begin with something that doesn't require knowledge of the fictional world. While it can be extreme, it cannot be so foreign that the reader can not immediately put themselves in the character shoes. Along the same line, you usually want to start with your main character. The first-person the reader meets is the person they assume they should care about. Stop for a second and picture what it is that you're revealing in the first few pages. Who the lead is, where and when the story takes place. What the narrative strategy is. Narrative tone. In short, you are not only striving to grab the reader's attention, you're also giving the reader a good idea of the mood for the entire book. There's a lot riding on your opening. The first page sells your book. The last page sells your next book. Okay, that's overly simplified, but you get the point. Actually, what I recommend doing is to start writing your book with an opening that helps you get the words on the page. After all, you still have an entire book to write and you don't want the stress of the first page to stop you from getting started. So I suggest that you write a beginning that conveys the story. You need to say to get the story underway. At this point, you just need to identify the disturbance beat or the catalyst for change in the leads life. Get this much done and little more and then move on to writing the next beat. After the books first draft is finished, come back and rewrite the opening. The opening usually requires the most drafts anyway. So you might as well not allow yourself to get hung up on it. The next beat we are going to be learning about is the care package. Not to worry, the next three beats are much simpler. 109. Care Package: The next beat is named the care package. The goal of this beat is simple. You want to reveal something meaningful to the reader that makes the reader care about the protagonist. This is typically done by having the lead demonstrate concern for our different persons while being in essence, you are striving to humanize the protagonist in a manner that garners sympathy from the reader. The purpose of this beach should be obvious. The more invested the readers are in your protagonist, the more invested they are with your book as a whole. 110. Argument Against Transformation: The next beat is named the argument against transformation. This B also has one goal. This is to emphasize the theme. Stories are largely about transformation. In order to have character transformation, you must see meant a starting point. One way of approaching this is to consider Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. During this be, Dorothy is dreaming of running away from home. At the final transformation, She comes to understand that there is no place like home. Returning to her home at the end would not mean as much if she didn't long to leave it in the first place. A second way of looking at this beat is to demonstrate a situation where the protagonist knows that he or she should make a change in their life but refuses to. There are many books that show a character in a hated dead-end job during this beat. 111. Trouble Brewing: The next beat is named trouble brewing. This is a foreshadowing bead. It is here that you get the reader a glimpse into the principle external conflict. This is typically done by showing what the villain is doing. It's here where you can show what it is that the villain craves and why the antagonist believed themselves deserving. Now the villain does it need to be a person? It can be nature or culture at large. But whatever you make your antagonist, it's here that you warm the reader up to the antagonist role in the story. 112. Doorway of No Return - 1st: The next beat is named the doorway of no return. This is the B that creates a situation where the protagonist cannot return to how things used to be. The stakes are now oriented towards the protagonist dealing with death and bear with me for a moment. Before we move on, this particular notion of death needs to be elaborated upon. There are three types of death in fiction. There's psychological death, physical death, and professional death. At least one of these types of death needs to be presented in this beat. Physical death is usually featured in thrillers. Romances tend to deal with psychological death. And professional death occurs whenever the protagonist makes choices based upon their professional concerns. This notion of death doesn't necessarily need to be some dark and tragic thing. Ok, so back to the particulars of this beet. If you were to imagine a bridge that is largely supported by two huge pillars. In terms of story structure, the doorway of no return b can be viewed as being this bridges first pillar. The purpose of the first act is largely about introducing the reader to the main characters and to the situation at hand, the setting, and the tone and stakes. However, this book doesn't become a story until the reader finishes with the doorway of no return beat. That character can no longer returned to how things once we're after the lead passes through this beat. The problem is that the thing threatening death must first be dealt with. Generally speaking, this beach should take place before the 1 fifth mark in the book. Think of Act Two as a death struggle. This final b in act one is the leads doorway. And two, that death struggle, this beat is the brutal push into act two. Think of Luke Skywalker as families smoldering bodies as being the incentive to leave with OB1, the twist or in the Wizard of Oz, the silver war starting in Gone With the Wind. And The words, you're fugitives name is Dr. Richard Kimball. Go get them in the Harrison Ford movie, The Fugitive. It's worth repeating that this beat must force the protagonist into a response. The choice must be highly emotionally compelled. Human beings tend to resist profound change. We must first have no other choice. So too for your protagonists. When writing a romance novel, this would be the location where you would force the hero and the heroine together. It is here that they are forced to deal with one another while they together tackle some form of deaths. In short, Think of this beat where the protagonists world has been turned upside down or considered to be a call to adventure. If the reader has made it this far into your story, they shouldn't be able to put your book down after reading this beat. 113. Kick in the Shins: The first beat in the second act is called the kick in the shins. This is the leads first bump in the road. This is typically experienced as an action scene or as a deepening of emotional stakes. And the previous beat, the protagonist pass through a point of no return. It is here that the reader witnesses some of the pain from that change in the character's life. In short, your goal with this beat is to show the reader that things are getting worse for the protagonist and that even worse experiences possibly lay on the horizon. This beat seems pretty straightforward. The next beat is arguably the most important beat when it comes to the creation process of building your story. 114. Mirror Moment: The next beat is called the mirror moment. This beat is going to take some time to fully cover. This beat is significant, not only for plots purposes, but also for plotting purposes. Meaning that you can in, arguably should start conceiving of your novel by contemplating this beat first. Okay, let's start by saying what the mirror moment is. The mirror moment is the point in the book when the protagonist stops and it has a deep moment of introspection. It is here that the character asks such questions as, what have I done? Who am I? What do I have to do to change? What have I become? I can't win. I'm going to die. You get the point. It's an apex emotional moment you are capturing here. This beat truly represents the middle of the story. It is here in this moment that you show exactly who your character is, your bearing the essence of the leads psychology to the reader here, a decision must soon be made. But first, the protagonists must fully confront themselves and their circumstances. Well, she overcome her moral flaw. Will he continue the way he has always been, or will he change? We are going to have to spend some time delving into this beat. You need to know your characters well. Now I don't mean that you need to know the favorite color or exact date of birth. What you need to know must strike at the core of who the person is. Every person has a breaking point. What would upset this character enough to pick up a chair and throw it through a window. What would this character is best and worst days look like? What would this character tattoo on a part of the body that everyone else could see? What would this character be hiding from everyone else? What secret is buried at the back of their closet? What childhood memory is the most vivid, and so on. You want to develop and answer questions that cut deep into the characters psyche. Doing this will greatly assist you in creating an authentic Mirror Moment. Writers often joke that there's a beginning, a middle, and an end. The common teachings, or that it is the model where you elaborate on the crucible, where you explore what binds the antagonist and the protagonist together. But we are going to go deeper than this because there's a great deal to consider when contemplating the middle. For one, many books drag during this part of the novel, such as sagging metal, has the potential of killing the book for the reader. This often happens because of the lack of tension, too much repetition in recapping, too much time spent on secondary characters, and a general drop-off in momentum. A sagging middle is common. Even the most experienced authors encounter it. Obviously, you want to avoid such a model, which is why I'm going to explore this particular beat in detail. The best way to avoid this sagging middle is to make the middle the parts you focus upon when you are contemplating your book. As I'll explain, once you nailed down the mirror moment or this pinnacle moment in the middle of the book. You can back engineer the rest of the book. For example, if you already know this scenario or a situation that you want to create in the middle, you can determine what chain of events are necessary to arrive at such a scenario. Back engineering the plot also ensures that the middle becomes a pinnacle moment for the reader, as opposed to a sagging moment, because the entire first half of the book has logically been building up to that mirror moment. A good place to start is thinking long and hard about what the protagonists motivation is. In the safe, the catch writing structure method. You learn how to differentiate between a character's want and, uh, characters need. Following this line of thinking will help you in determining the protagonists motivation. You see this pinnacle emotional event of self-discovery isn't a series of scenes. It has a single moment within a scene. This event typically appears with a character looking at themselves in a figurative or literal mirror. It is here that the leads take a long, hard look at themselves and determine where they are in relationship to the conflict. Typical questions that are addressed here are, how is continuing to confront such a conflict changing me? What do I have to do to break through self-limiting beliefs? How must I change to win? What am I becoming? Can I become what I need to be? Also, the middle moment can simply be the powerful realization of impending doom. I'm about to die, for example. And again, this death can be professional, emotional, or physical. You get the point though. The character is making an intimate understanding between themselves and the conflict. There are many great examples of this moment. Two of my favorites occur in the movie The Fugitive with Harrison Ford and the movie The Hunger Games with Suzanne Collins. There's a moment in the middle of the fugitive that Dr. Campbell has an all is lost. Moment. He awakes in a basement apartment to the sights and sounds of a flood of hunting police officers. He knows that there's police or after him, but try as he might, he can't figure out how to escape them. This moment is brief because it doesn't take long for Kimball to see that the police officers were after the landlord's son. However, this pinnacle moment forced Kimball to undertake deep introspection. In that moment, he determined that he can not live a life in hiding. He must fight the conflict and prove his innocence. The mirror moment at The Hunger Games is different because it's a literal, I am going to die moment. This is an OK place to die, I think, right? Suzanne Collins. Consider what happened to catalyses psyche after this moment. Remember, if you've figured out your stories mirror moment, you can back engineered the rest of the book. 115. Pet the Dog : The next beat is called pet the dog. Think of this as helping a trap dog that ends up biting you. This is a beat that can occur within multiple parts of the story. But having this beat after the mirror moment is an especially good place to have it. In short, the goal of this beat is to show the protagonist doing something good that ends up making things worse for the lead. This accomplishes three main feats. One, it makes the reader care about the character more to, it helps making the character more round, more dynamic, more interesting. And lastly, it stimulates the conflict necessary to keep the plot moving and engaging. A good example of this is the scene in the fugitive, where Dr. Campbell saves the boy's life in the hospital, and as a result, blows his plan and anonymity. This beat is often used to show the character moving from a perspective of selfishness to selflessness. In summary, your goal is ultimately to use this beat to both humanize and hinder your protagonist. 116. Doorway of No Return - 2nd: The next beat is called the second doorway of no return. Again, if a story is a bridge, this B is the second pillar holding up that bridge. This is the bead that brings the second act to an end. Without this speed, the second act may go on forever. It is a vital scene that thrusts the protagonist towards the climax. In the first doorway of no return. There are many things still unknown to the protagonists in the reader. In a second doorway of no return, the inevitable conclusion is much clearer. And again, once the lead passes through this doorway, there is no going back to how things once were. 117. Mounting Forces : The next beat is called melting forces. This is the first beat of Act Three. During this beat, the antagonist appears to gain strength, which makes things worse for the protagonist. Another way of looking at this speed is the villain recognizing that the protagonist is a threat and therefore the antagonist readies itself for battle. In essence, your goal here is to strengthen whatever your antagonist is and make the threat formidable for the protagonist. I should slide in here that you need to keep victory a possibility for your protagonist. I'll be at slight. An example that comes to mind is a Latin confronting GFR. At the end of the Disney movie, the audience recognized that Shofar was far more powerful, but we didn't lose all hope for Latin. The point is that if you make the conflict and possibly powerful, then when you have your hero overcome that conflict, it doesn't seem believable to the reader. Keeps the hope slim, but ever-present. 118. Lights Out: Okay, the next beat is called lights out. This beat is also known as the black moment, which is a part of the story where all seems lost. Again though, all seems lost. But the reader has the understanding in the back of their head that there's still the tiniest glimmer of hope. Your objective here is to make everything seem lost, but stopping just shy of obliterating all hope. In other words, it is here where the protagonist believes that victory is impossible. And a romance novel, this would be the hero and heroine turning away from the relationship with the belief that they cannot have their happily ever after. In essence, consider this to be a dark beat. Envision the reader getting very nervous that things will not work out for the protagonist because of this beet. 119. The Q Factor : The next element that needs to be discussed as an element referred to as the Q factor. Explaining the Q factor is a little complicated because it's an element that is directly relevant to the end of the story, but it is introduced in the beginning. The Q factor isn't so much of a beat as it is a necessary ingredient to this story structure recipe. The Q factor is named after the character q from the James bomb series. Cubed would give James Bonds some piece of technology at the beginning of the story that would play an important role at the end of the story. It may help to think of the Q factor as a way of linking the first third acts. So when structuring the Q factor in your book, you need to think ahead to the end of the book and contemplate what would save the day. You don't need to figure out what the Q factor is going to be before you start crafting your outline. But you do need to keep it in the forefront of your mind while you are building your outline. Now, the q-factor doesn't need to be a piece of technology as it is in the bond series. It doesn't even need to be materialistic in nature. It could be anything and emotional element, some source of inspiration, some advice, some memory that happened during act one, that gives the protagonist that necessary push to reach the next phase. Anything but the Q factor can be tricky. And usually the first dozen ideas are going to be too cliche. This is something you want to stir around in your head for a few days. 120. Final Battle: The last relatively quick and easy beat to discuss is named the final battle. It should go without saying that this beam is especially important. Some would even argue that without this beat there is no story. All this time. The story has been building tension. This is the beat where that tension climaxes. Now, this beat doesn't necessarily need to be a physical battle. In order to write a successful final battle beat, you must first determine what resolution needs to be found for the leads Mirror Moment. For example, if the leads marrow moment is a question like, what do I have to do? Then the final battle is the protagonist doing that thing that he or she has to do? This beat is typically a battle of sorts. This beat can involve the protagonist making a sacrifice, or the character making a choice that comes with great difficulty confronting some inner demon that spin with the character from the beginning. The thing to remember is that at this point in your book, you are working towards a resolution to the story. It's very difficult to arrive at a resolution without this final battle beat. 121. Transformation and Resolution : The last beat is the transformation and resolution beat. If you think of your first beat as selling your book, you can think of this beat as selling your next book. Whether they know it or not. Readers largely pick up a book to witness transformation. Now, the transformation does not necessarily need to be seen in the character. Generally speaking, there are four types of stories. These are mill you stories, ideas, stories, character stories in event Stories. Event stories, or stories primarily about an event that happened and why it happened. It character story is mostly about the nature of one or two characters in a story. Emphasis is given to who are these characters and why do they do what they do? Type questions, ideas, stories are primarily about the delivering of information to the reader. A milled US story is more or less a story about setting. Most stories have a mix of all four types of stories, but they are primarily about one of these types. I'm telling you about these four types of stories because this resolution beat needs to reflect the type of story you're writing. The general thinking is that the reader expects the stories resolution to bring resolution to the initial source of the major structural tension. For example, a milieus story needs an ending with a character returns home. If the initial source of major structural tension is represented as a world that is unbalanced. Then the story's resolution needs to bring balance to that world. What I'm driving at here is that writing a piece of fiction involves making a contract with the reader. When a writer introduces major conflict to the reader, the author is making a promise that that particular conflict find a resolution. This is a kind of sacred bond between storyteller and audience. Which is why you need to be careful about what major conflicts you introduce in your story. If you do not resolve them than you are in a sense, breaking your vowel at the story's resolution, all of the major issues have been resolved. This latter point is especially true with romance novels that by law, must have a happy ending. And as far as romance novels are concerned, your entire story and ending must accomplished the feat of assuring the reader that the relationship will endure. What has happened to the characters during the story have led the readers to believe that if they were to check on the coupled ten years from now, that they would still be happy together. This is typically done by having the to make sacrifices for each other that demonstrates their long term commitment. These sacrifices will need to be genuine and not later resented for the sake of their love and not something that can be done in the beginning of the book. This sacrifice establishes equality between the couple and makes a more believable resolution. You don't want to characters that have hated each other throughout the whole book suddenly falling in love at the end. Nor do you want one of the two simply surrendering to the other. Also, this resolution must be found entirely from the interaction between the couple. No outside saviors allowed. If they don't come to the resolution on their own, then a reader won't believe the relationship will endure the trials of time. But I digress. You need to show a lot here. Primarily you want to show rather than tell, that the transformation has taken place. In the beginning of the movie, lethal weapon with Mel Gibson. There's a lot of talk about a bullet. At the end to character transformation is shown by mel Gibson's character handing off that bullet. 122. Why Use This Structure: Donald mass famously stated that your best promotion is whether the covers of your last book, using tried and true structural techniques makes it likely that your last book will remain appealing to an audience. Many new authors perceived structure as a hindrance to their imagination. While it's true that structured does limit and authors choices, it is also true that structure empowers imagination. After all, it's been proven that constraints forced the brain to be more creative. So if you consider yourself to be a person that prefers to write without an outline, also known as a painter. And it will still help you by offering some familiar landmarks that the journey through your story should hit. Writers that prefer to operate with an outline or so-called plotters will enjoy this section. Before we began learning the structural techniques, I want to elaborate on why you should use structure in your writing in the first place. The idea that you need to show romance in a romance novel seems obvious. However, this is harder to do than you might think. Showing means that you can't just tell the reader that your characters are starting to romantically fall for one another. You must show the romance developing in a manner that flows nicely with the reader. Psychology. For example, if you have the romance developing too quickly, the reader will get bored. If it happens to slowly, then the happy ending will not be believable. Now consider that every story beat gives the reader an opportunity to not only see the romance develop, but also gain a more rounded understanding of your characters. You need an antagonistic force, whether it is a villain or something else. But the focus needs to remain on the heroes and heroines developing romance. Now, if you focus solely on the developing romance without giving emphasis to dealing with the conflict, you will bore the reader. But if you focus on the conflict, you will no longer have a romance novel. Now, a common problem for writers is to get consumed by the non romantic elements of the story. After all, there's a great deal to consider when handling this side of the story. It helps to consider the love story as being directly related to the plot. But the love story isn't all that is involved in the plot. Each plot points not only moves the story as a whole forward, it also shows the hero and heroine in a new light, as well as reveals the advancing romance. It may help you to perceive the romance side of the story as resembling a river. The developing love can move slowly in calmly for awhile, taking a blind turn here to there. And then it can be full of rapids and waterfalls. Water is a good analogy because you want love to conquer all. Just as rivers and their natural environment will never stop moving. They will eventually overcome, go around or ground down all obstacles. Story structure will help you to create a river that is both appealing and logical. There are a number of ground rules. One, you don't want to spend too much time on technical details. You can explore the details when you are developing your outline. As a way of getting to know your story and characters better. But you only want to put the vital details into your story. For example, if your hero is a doctor, you should avoid describing the nuances of his education in a specific equipment he uses during surgery. Just saying what type of doctor he is should be sufficient. So rule one, don't overwhelm your reader with technical details. This is also good advice because if you do include technical details and you get these details incorrect, you run the risk of losing your knowledgeable reader. To don't create a plot and setting that require a lot of attention. The romance genre needs plot in setting, but unlike other genres, the Plot and Setting needs to serve the push and pull of the relationship. So rule to have the plot points that we will later discuss and use setting. But don't make these romance elements the most important features in your romance novel. Rule three have more occasions where the hero and heroine talk to each other rather than about the other. A common mistake is to have the hero and heroine talk about the other to their friends and family, or to rely on showing the character's feelings through inner monologue. So Rule three is lean on showing the developing relationship through real-time interaction. Rule for avoid having too many characters. The law of diminishing returns can be found in all literature. Secondary characters are good, even necessary. But after a certain point, they can really hurt the story. Think of your story as a Hollywood movie that you are personally funding. Ask yourself if a particular character is worth the cost of hiring another actor? Or can you instead cut or combine that character with another actor's role and therefore save your money. The fifth rule is worth repeating. Its an effective writing technique to show your character's thoughts. But you should strive to keep your writing about people thinking to a minimum. Six, keep your hero and heroine together and have them be alone together as often as possible. The objective is to show the developing romance. This doesn't work if the hero and heroine are spending a lot of time apart. Also, keeping them Alone Together retains the focus on the couple instead of on extraneous details. For example, if you have the coupled together at a party, have them walk out to be alone on the balcony. That the setting in secondary characters do not detract from the scene. Try to not let your hero and heroine be separated for more than ten pages. Seven, US setting and plot to reveal how dynamic your hero and heroine are. Keep your plots moving and you're setting various so as to keep shining different light on your protagonist's. Now, I find that the best way to develop structure is to utilize a series of direct questions. Some of the questions I like to use before and during the plotting process, or the following. Which characters do I need to bring on stage? Which characters don't I need? Which characters are possible? Point-of-view characters? What is the primary focus of this scene? What else can I accomplished with this scene? What unit of time and place does they seem represent? Why does this seem began at the moment that it does? How does this scene lead into or set up the next door subsequent scenes? Can I use this seemed to foreshadow future actions or events? How does the end of this scene draw the reader into the following scene? How can I use this scene to build suspense? How can you best preserve any surprise or mystery that occurs in the scene whose dots and reactions are most important? What information is most important to the readers in this scene and who possesses that information. Okay, now, student writers are often taught to make stories as similar to real life as possible. For example, students are taught to go to public spaces and study how people talk so that they can write better dialogue. Due to the fact that we writers are trying to create as believable a world is possible. This advice makes logical sense. However, such a strategy will ultimately destroy your story. I discuss writing dialogue and the dialogue section. The points I'm trying to make is related to story structure. You should not make your plot a series of random events similar to how real-world life occurs. Coincidences happen all the time in real life. But books that use more than one instance of coincidence tend to upset the reader. In this same light. Even though readers pick up a romance novel to discover a love story, the process of falling in love is not plot. The process of falling in love, blacks, the action, the conflict, and the other dynamics necessary to retain the reader's attention. There are three analogies that I think helped to sum up the importance of structure. One is the analogy of a cross-country road trip. You wouldn't just get into your non self-driving car does drive in any old direction, just hoping that you arrive at a desired destination. No, you first pick a final destination on your map. Then after the final destination has been plotted, you might find some landmarks that you want to stop at along the way. Therefore, you plot a zigzag route to your final destination that makes that journey as fulfilling as possible. Okay? And you can think of structure as being the floor, roof and walls. But you get to design the floor plan as you so choose. Another analogy is that of a bridge. And we will examine this one in the Bell section. 123. Cat - plotting method: Now we are going to discuss the Save the Cat story development technique. This approach to writing fiction involves 15 beats. A beat is a structural unit of a story. It's usually entails a dramatic event were revelations, actions were important. Decisions take place that ultimately drive the plot forward. It can be composed of one or multiple scenes. A vital first step to understanding this story creation technique is to acknowledge the role and importance of the three-act story structure. The three-act structure is very appealing to the human mind. Many aspects of our existence are broken up into a three-act structure. For example, childhood, adulthood, old age. The three-act structure was used back when stories were only spoken. It has persisted that testaments of time for reason. I suggest that you use the three-act structure in all of your writing. 124. The Opening Image: The first beat, the opening image is extremely important because it holds multiple roles. The first vital role is that it serves as a setup for the story. It introduces the protagonist and the setting. In case you don't already know. The protagonist is essentially the main character. The second vital role involves the point that the first beat is the only opportunity you have to capture a new reader. Third, this opening image will look vastly different from the final image of the book. Now, this bead is short. If you can ensnare the reader's attention and this beat, then you may have them purchasing your book. Conversely, if you write this beat poorly, then it doesn't matter how good the rest of your book is. You need to know the tone, narrative style, mood, setting, main characters before you write this beat. It may sound contradictory, but you may want to consider writing this beat last. The first beat sells your book. Your last beat sells your next book. It's easier to write this beat. Well, after you know the details of your entire story, of course, you can always rewrite this section if you choose. 125. Theme Stated: The second beat theme stated is oriented towards what the protagonists must learn by the time the book ends. In order to fully understand this beat, you must first grasp the importance of character transformation. I'm going to go on a little rant here, but I'm hoping that after I finish, you will better grasp not only this particular beat, but also its role in the story as a whole. Let me begin with a question. Why are we so attracted to stories? Your answer may be that stories generate fun, exciting, entertaining community experiences that can transport the reader into fantastic and wonderful worlds. This would be a correct answer. But I would argue that we are attracted to stories because of the vital role they can play in a human experience. While stories can be fun, sad, exciting, and scary. I believe that their first purpose is to teach. For example, think Aesop's Fables. These stories are entertaining, but they are read to children for the purpose of offering moral and intellectual guidance in life. Humanity craves shortcuts to prosperity, and likewise, humanity longs to avoid suffering. That can be dodged. Stories have always been the most effective vehicles for teaching the shortcuts of life. In other words, the stories origin is based on function, not entertainment. Okay? Since stories are supposed to teach the reader about life and living, the elements within the story must reflect the rules of life. Please don't confuse what I'm saying. You can write about living on alien worlds and having a Dragon for a pet in a leprechaun for a father. When I speak of the rules of life, I'm referring to the features that the subconscious mind looks for to confirm authenticity. The easiest and best way to clarify this point is to discuss character flaws and transformation. We all unilaterally reject stories where the characters we are following the start and end the story as perfect, flawless beings were they undertake 0 transformations. Stories are directly linked to our evolution. They are hard-wired into our DNA and ingrained into the very way our brain develops. Consciously. We read fictional stories to be entertained. But subconsciously that ancient part of our brain is listening to the stories to glean lessens. The reader's brain will reject the story. If the story doesn't present the rules of life, the reader will set the book aside, perhaps not even knowing why. If you understand that the stories appeal to the ancient brain is its functional value, then it should be easier to grasp why having flawed characters conflict and it Transformation theme are vital. While the story can be fantastical, it needs to obey the rules of life. The antagonist must be more powerful than the protagonists. Just as merciless nature is more powerful than the caveman. The conflict needs to be substantial and the protagonists must be different people than they were at the beginning of the story. In order to appease the ancient brain, the story must have believable conflict and character transformation. If you don't have these elements, the story will not satiate that evolutionary craving for applicable data. Simply put, we read to learn from others mistakes. How can I learn from a character that is already perfect and does not change throughout the entire story. In order to understand the theme stated beat, you must first grasp that the protagonist must be different people by the close of the story. If the protagonist is afraid to love again, then buy the clothes at the story, the protagonist is embracing love in a healthy way in order to arrive at the happy ending or satisfying conclusion to the story, the character must not only overcome their flaws, grow as a person, but also knowingly confront and solve that element in life that is causing them the most harm. For example, in the story me before you buy judge a. Mois, Luisa is asked, what exactly do you want to do with your life? Luis's struggles to answer this question because the element in life that is causing her the most harm is her existing for everyone but herself. This is an example of the theme stated. While the question has the word want in it, because Luisa is sacrificing herself for her want to help others. This question is actually understood about the ancient brain to be, what exactly do you need to do with your life? Luis's greatest flaw, the flaw that originates from her core, from who she is as a person, is revealed in that simple question. At a later date, Louisa will learn to live for herself, but arriving at that conclusion would be meaningless if it were not first established to the reader that her greatest flaw was not living for herself. Her want of living for others was overshadowing her need to live for herself. Allow me to elaborate on the difference, insignificance of character want versus character need. Stop for a second and contemplate the difference between a want and a need. I'm not being patronizing. This can actually be a difficult distinction to make. For example, you may want to become a best selling author that makes millions of dollars every year. You may even believe you need to become wealthy. But what you really need is to become a person that feels free to stop and smell the roses. The protagonists want is what the protagonist is trying throughout the majority of the book to appease. But each step towards pursuing that want, they are given lessons, experiences, encounters, conflicts, et cetera, that drive them towards pursuing a resolution of their need. Rather than their want. Both want and need must be present in the story. With want getting emphasized in the beginning of the story and need being suggested, foreshadowed, insinuated in hinted at in the beginning. As the book progresses, the emphasis falls from the characters pursuit of the want and moves to the characters deliberate effort to meet their need. So in short, the second beat theme stated is subtly revealing to the reader the protagonists greatest flaw. This flaw isn't something superficial. It isn't a fear of spiders or aversion to broccoli. It is something that is holding the person from living a life well lived or serving some greater cause. Within this beat is an instance that reveals to the reader what the protagonists need is. 126. Setup: The third beat is called the setup. Tried to answer three questions when creating this beat. Who is the protagonist? In simplistic terms? What are the hero, heroines, problems, generally speaking? And where is this story taking place? It is important that you be as concise as possible when writing this beat, this part of the story. It needs to move very quickly. Keep back story to a minimum here. Your goals are clear in this beat. Capture the readers attention and acquaint the reader to the who, what, where, and why of this starting world and characters. Strive to show these elements to the reader rather than tell them these details. The more visual and visceral you are during this beat, the better. 127. The Catalyst: Now the fourth beat is called the catalyst. This is where the story's engine begins to rev up. In this beat, something happens that disturbs the status quo. Remember, in the first two beats, you are basically introducing the reader to the world and vital characters. The reader has more or less gotten their bearings in your fictional world. Your catalyst is the beat where you shake it up. Something happens that forces action, action. Let me repeat that. Action. Not dialogue, not monologue or introspection, but action. The protagonist must move in this beat, in the response to a shock that breaks them from the familiar world. This beat is also known as the call to action and the inciting incident. Think of it this way. Without this beat that nothing would change in your story. Remember, deep down, people enjoy stories so that they can learn. They aren't learning anything from a stagnant world with static characters. Used this beat to shake up your characters and your readers. 128. Debate: The next beat is the debate. This is the last beat of Act One. This beat usually consists of multiple scenes and involves the contemplation of how to respond to the disruptive event that happened in the previous beat. Think of this beat as the eternal struggle of the character striving to cling to a world that no longer exists. And the push to appropriately respond to the change element as presented in the catalyst beat. Or this beat can be presented as the preparation phase where the protagonists armed themselves for the action ahead. I like to think of this as the place where you reveal the authentic human tendency to resist change. But since all stories are about character transformation, the protagonist does not need to be chomping at the bit to embrace that forced change. Reluctance is a believable characteristic. And being proactive despite that reluctance is what makes the character both believable and appealing to the reader. 129. Break Into Two: Act Two begins with a beat named break into two. This beat typically takes place around 20% into the story. Think of this beat as the first real step that the protagonists make in their transformation process. This is the beat or the protagonist enters a new world. Harry Potter, arriving at Hogwarts, quietness, arriving at the capital. Whether a figuratively or literally new world. The world in this beat is different from the world in the previous beats. It is important to state. Protagonist entered this world on their own freewill. They were not forced or tricked. Otherwise, the character transformation process is less significant. Still keep in mind. During this part of the story, the protagonists are making decisions based upon their once as opposed to their needs. Quietness wants to defend her sister. She needs to become the leader that overthrows the Capitol. She enters the capital in this beat because of her want Harry Potter, once to leave the Muggle world, he needs to usher in a time of peace by becoming the hero that conquers evil. Harry enters the Muggle world because of his want to escape his current environment. You will see this theme in many successful books. In me before you. The character Louisa, does not change worlds in a literal sense. She doesn't go to Hogwarts or the capital as attribute. Rather, she goes to an affluent world that has an incapacitated character name will in it. She took the job because of her want to earn funds to help her family. However, it is through pursuing this want that she will arrive at solving her need of living for herself. This is also the beat, or the protagonists begin to think differently. They start looking at the world and themselves in a different light. In other words, the protagonists actually begin to think differently. 130. B Story: The next speaker is called b story. There are several goals for this beat. The first goal is to clearly establish what is happening in the protagonists external world, what's occurring in the environment? In other words, this speed is focused heavily on setting. Also, this beat involves the elaboration of what is occurring in the protagonists internal world, such as the inner turmoil or joy of having left the old world and entering the new world. Another goal in this beat is to introduce special characters that could not exist in the Act One World serve a vital role in guarding the protagonist towards successful transformation. Think Harry Potter becoming involved with Hermione and Ron Weasley and continous becoming involved with peta and Hayman. These special characters serve a predetermined role in shaping the protagonist. It's not uncommon for them to represent a goal or anti coal. For instance, I should be like him. I shouldn't be like her. These special characters should aid the protagonist in slowly shifting the focus from the protagonists want to the protagonists need. 131. Fun & Games: The next beat is named fun and games. By this point, you're well into act two. This beat, it consists of many scenes. You may want to articulate what is happening, what the protagonists are up to. There are two examples to consider when writing this beat. First, you must determine if what is happening to the protagonist at this point in the story is positive or negative. If it is positive, then picture and upward path that the character is moving on. For example, things are going great for Harry Potter compared to his previous world during this point in the story. Now, if it is negative and picture a downward sloping path that the character is moving on. For example, things are going very poorly for catalyse from hunger games during this point in the story. Still though, you don't want to make it all good or all bad. You need to make it much more than the other, but it shouldn't be extreme. For example, Harry Potter loves Hogwarts during this beat, but he's still having trouble with bullies in a stern teacher. In short, it is in this beat that we reveal the repercussions of the beat break into two. Okay, another way to think of this beat is to consider what the reader thinks of when he or she picks up your book. On your cover and description, you're going to be portraying a certain storyline and setting. It is primarily in this beat where that readers pre expectations are revealed. Harry Potter at Hogwarts School, keratinous, ever Dean, all dolled up for battle at the capitol. It's important to note that during this beat, the characters are still on accustomed to their new environment. They are still largely attached to the persona they possessed during Act one. 132. Midpoint: The next beat is called the midpoint. This may be the most important beat within it is the culmination of the fun and games beat. Please take a moment to recall the upward and downward path as described in the previous section, if the character is doing well during the fun in games beat than they are on an upward trajectory and vice versa. As such, there are two different midpoints in response to this trajectory. If the protagonists were on a downward trajectory, then this midpoint is the lowest point for the character. Protagonists pursuit of their want, betrayed them, or otherwise come to an end. Defeat, suffering, since a total loss is what you need to consider when writing such a beat. And the next beat, the protagonist will need to abandon their want and discover, except and pursue their need. This beat serves to kill off the want, and it does so to the delivery of pain. The protagonist feels defeat here, feels defeated, but isn't truly defeated. Now, if the protagonists were on an upward trajectory, then this midpoint is the highest point for the hero or heroine. Here the protagonist gets what they want, but this success will not solve the need issue. Achievement does not give the protagonist what it is that they truly desire. Only what they believed until that point was what they desired. In essence, the protagonists are on the verge of learning what their need is. Whether at the extreme high or low, the protagonist or forced to acknowledge that decisions need to be made that are harder than all those in the past. It is here where the protagonist reflect on themselves and their flaws. Because the first step in fixing something is the recognition that there is a problem. Whether the mid point is high or low, your lead must acknowledge here that personal change is necessary. In other words, the characters focus shifts from the external threats and desires to an inward perspective. This is potentially the most important part of the story because it is here where the crossroads are presented. 133. Bad Guys Close In: The next beat is called Bad guys close in. This is also a relatively long beat because it usually consists of numerous scenes. Please recall that mental image of that downward or upward trajectory. This is the beat or the trajectory shifts direction. If the previous beat was a high point, then things move towards the worst in this beat and vice versa. Harry Potter had won the Quidditch match in the previous beat. But in this beat, he encounters Voldemort drinking unicorn blood. Therefore, the Quidditch match diminishes in value and the need of becoming the Savior begins to take hold. In the Hunger Games, catalysts nearly dies, is aided by PDA, and then goes on an upward trajectory towards victory. She has yet to adopt her need, but she is primed to embrace her role in defeating the capital. Consider how catenary is at this point versus how she is at the beginning of the story. And the next beat, quietness will experience the death of r2, which will push her to fully embrace her need. 134. All is Lost: The next beat is called, all is lost. This is the lowest point for the protagonists. I realized that I said during the midpoints beat that the protagonists can experience their lowest point. Due to that particular beats importance, it is necessary to think that way while writing that beat. This being said, the all is lost beat is in reality the darkest of all the beats. Here's where all protagonists get the worst off that they will ever be. When contemplating this beat. Consider the analogy that it is always the darkest just before dawn. The protagonists must seemingly lose at all so as to burn off what does not matter and begin to transformation to become the character the reader craves to see at the close of the book. Do you remember the rant about why humans crave stories? During that rant, I discussed how the primitive brain looks for real-world rules. One of these rules is that people tend to not undergo fundamental change until they had hit rock bottom. When you include such a beat in your book, the reader subconscious will embrace your story and short. You are looking to create a powerful and dark catalyst for real change in the character. Death is not uncommon in this beat. For example, rude dying in the Hunger Games. 135. Dark Night of the Soul: The next beat is called the dark night of the soul. In the previous beat, the protagonists fall to their lowest point in the story. In this beat, the protagonists cry and questioned themselves, their flaws, their choices. In other words, deep emotion and introspection takes place during this beat. This is not a short beat. The protagonists require time to interpret and process that which brought them to this point. It is not uncommon for the protagonists to return to act one thinking and environment. Many times, these characters returned to what is familiar to seek out solace and comfort. But such a strategy ultimately fails. The protagonists have changed too much by this point for such a tactic to help think of inter wicked returning to Earth before going to war. The pace is slow during this beat. Again, the hero needs time to absorb, digest, and reflect on all that has taken place until this point, as well as set the groundwork for arriving at the epiphany that offers the solution to the governing problem. For example, cotton is taking the time to bury r2 and create the symbol of defiance by raising her three fingers up high in me before you, Louisa returns to her home to embrace her sadness because will still choose a suicide. 136. Break Into Three: The next beat is called a break into three, and is the first beat of Act three. This is the beat or the solution to the encompassing problem is found. Do you remember in the beginning of this section, when I was speaking about how the best stories involve characters that transform. While the goal of this beat is to make it vividly clear to the reader that a character is determined to undergo that transformation. No longer is the protagonist driven to pursue a want. The protagonist is now willing to fulfill their need. In other words, the protagonist demonstrates in this beat, but the problem was not with the villain or some external elements. Rather, the problem exists with a solution has always been with themselves. It was never them. It was never that. It was me. All along. In this beat, the protagonists make a decision. This decision requires action. Action that the protagonist from the first act would never do. In the Hunger Games. This is catalysed, accepting the belief that she has not the capitals play thing in me before you. Louisa takes a plane to be with will because she decided to be there for him. 137. The Finale: The next act is called the finale. And the previous beat, the protagonist chose what the next step would be. In this beat, that decision is acted upon. In romances, this is often where the hero chases the heroine down in some spectacular pursuit. Villains are defeated in this beat. Okay, so remember that want versus need Theme thing. Well, this is the beach where it is shown that the protagonists have learned and resolved at their need. In brief, this is the need that was hinted at during the theme stated beat during Act one. You have multiple scenes to complete this beat, because you have a lot to do in this beat. In fact, it is not uncommon for this beat to take up a whopping 20% of the book. It is important that the protagonists success feels earned. The Threats, Challenges and tests must feel difficult and a real, these obstacles can only be overcome by the protagonists acting on their need. And the hunger games catalyse wins by embracing the need that she is not a slave to the Capitol. She demonstrates the willingness to die rather than to be the capitals play thing. Again, ask yourself two questions when considering this example. Would first act catalysts do such an act? And is it believable at this point in the story that catalyst would eat the lethal berries and defiance. 138. The Final Image: The last beat is called the final image. This is a single scene beat that occurs at the books clothes. This is a showing beat as opposed to a telling beat. Put another way, this beat involves the visual representation that the protagonist has undergone the necessary transformation. Think about your opening image when writing this beat, the final image needs to be vastly different from the opening image. And example of this is Luisa leisurely drinking coffee at a Paris cafe. She's showing that she is living for herself. And The Lord of the Rings. You see the hobbits return back home to the Shire with brand new confidence. 139. Write from the Middle: In this lesson, I'm going to be discussing the plotting technique that involves writing from the middle. The middle of the novel is insignificant part of the story. In brief, it is usually the place in the characterization process where the protagonist make a personal transition. This transition typically results in a redirection of the plot. The middle is also the place where many writers will lose their audience. Many authors say that a book consists of a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and a long book. The metal can go on for over a 100 pages. It's in writing the books metal, many authors experienced the inclination to go off on tangents, over-complicate the plot, get lost and characterization or lose focus on maintaining effective pacing. This can cause what is known as the sagging middle. Many, if not most books have a sagging middle. This is often because authors, almost by definition, struggled to see their own sagging middle. We writers are so into our book that even in a third draft, we fail to see how our middle is hurting our story as a whole. To us, the middle makes perfect sense. It's all a necessary part in creating our plot, setting and characterization. The thing is, we are frequently wrong. One of the most important and excruciating parts of the editing process involves cutting huge sections from our writing. Simply because those beautiful passages aren't nearly as necessary as we'd like to think they are. I'm not going to lie. This deleting and condensing phase is brutal. We fall in love with our words and we remember how much effort and time we spent on crafting them. So after we've stepped back far enough, when we reach the point where we can scrutinize our own work as a professional editor would. We realized the need to cut and condense, but this realization doesn't make hitting the delete key any easier. Still, we must push that delete key. Sagging middles often become apparent to an editor's eye through having certain tale tell signs. One is that there's a lot of activity taking place, but ultimately nothing of consequences happening. Things are happening. But in terms of actual plot development and character transformation, these matters actually appear stagnant. A second sign is that there is a lot of repeating and recapping going on. A third is that there is too much emphasis on a subplot or otherwise deviation from the established main plot. A fourth comes from the evidence that the writer is trying to create a book out of a story that is better suited for a short story or a novella. Sagging middles can occur whether you outlined your book ahead of time or not. Therefore, to avoid this, there's a plotting tactic that is designed specifically around the middle. To fully understand this plotting tactic, we have to first delve deeply into the plot milestone known as the mirror moment. The mirror moment is the point in the story when the protagonist take a long, hard look at themselves and makes the decision to change. If you were to analyze the majority of the best stories, you'll find a pivot point at or near the exact middle, where the protagonists look at themselves, their place within the central conflict, and their assessment of what must change to accomplish what needs to happen. This pivotal point either entails a literal, figurative, or metaphorical mirror moment where the protagonist confronts truth. Asking the following questions should help to illustrate this point. The character sits down themselves. What am I becoming? Who am I? Or what I've been doing isn't working. What needs to change for me to have a chance? Or what do I need to let go to accomplish what needs to be done? Or what is it that truly matters to me? Or what new paradigm must I adopt to be able to accomplish the most good? What's usually causes the mirror moment is the confrontation with the reality that certain death is all but inevitable. To be clear, this depth, does it need to be literal? In fiction, there are three types of death, physical, professional, and psychological. In other words, the mirror moment occurs after the protagonist faces the truth, that they will likely die, lose the career, or that they will be forever denied their happiness. This honest look at the situation forces the protagonist to change in some fundamental way. There are countless examples of the mirror moment. Their abundance exists because most experienced authors can just feel that such a scene is necessary for an effective story. My favorite example of the mirror moment occurs in the movie The Fugitive with Harrison Ford. And the middle of the movie, Dr. Richard Kimball is living in the basement of a drug dealer's house. When there was a police raid to capture the drug dealer, Dr. Campbell experiences a frantic and powerless moment from which he decides to go from hiding to fighting. This mirror moment makes it crystal clear to him that he is either going to win or he is going to be punished for a crime he didn't commit. There is no third option. Alright, so now that you understand what the mirror moment is, we can look at how to write a book from the middle. This plotting method begins with determining the mirror moment. Admittedly, this is a difficult first step. However, once you figure out this single scene, the plotting process for the rest of the book becomes relatively easy. Not only does it make the plotting easier, it also drastically decreases the odds that your book will have a sagging middle, which is great because that will largely spare you from the agony of having to delete much if your hard work, as discussed earlier, the first step of figuring out your mirror moment is to determine what your protagonist's motivation is. Then determined the reasons for this motivation. Then ask yourself if this motivation is a want or a need. If the motivation you found is a want, then you haven't really determined your mirror moment. Although figuring out the want aspect of a motivation will be helpful for your story. This is because many mirror moments are based upon the character shifting from pursuing a motivation based upon a 18x to the pursuit of a motivation that is based upon a need. Dr. Kimball wanted to be left alone and remain a successfully escaped convict. The mirror moment made him pursue the need of proving his innocence and capturing those that were responsible for his wife's death. Also, if your mirror moment feels like a want, that's good, but you aren't quite there yet. Keep thinking about your mirror moment. Ask yourself questions that could help you figure out the characters motivating need. Use the trial and error process. Test a scenario out in your imagination. Do you like it or not? If you don't like it, try some other idea. If you do like it, then start pressuring yourself to improve upon that idea. Don't just accept your first good idea. Use that good idea as a jumping off point. Such frustrating effort will turn a good idea into a great idea. I'll close this section by using the fugitive as an illustration as how a writer could use this plotting from the middle technique. Imagine you were writing the fugitive. He began the plotting process by picturing a scene where a man is any situation where he's on the run and he feels like he's about to get caught, but he isn't caught. This intense experience leads the protagonist to make a decision to go from being on the defensive to being on the offensive. But more than this, you need to see what this mirror moment transforms inside the protagonist. And this example, absolute terror, provides profound confidence. Please keep in mind that this mirror moment scene is usually very much based in a place of high emotion. After you've determined this emotionally and psychologically profound scene, you can then move on to figuring out what Richard Kimball is running from. Is it a crime that Kimball is perceived as having committed? You can then initiate the question and answer process. What type of character is this person? What is his profession? Can his profession be related to his crime somehow? The point is, after you've figured out the mirror moment, you then ask yourself exploratory questions from which you can't get a general feel for the story. Then all you need to do is take those general ideas and figure out how the story should begin and how the protagonist should move from the story's beginning to that mirror moment in a smooth, logical way. In other words, you're plotting backwards, kind of like completing a maze in reverse. So from here, you see how the protagonist begins. You see the mirror moment and how they change. You then determine the specifics of what they changed into, what decision they make, what course correction has been made. And from there, figure out the logical conclusion of such a course correction. In the Fugitive, DR. campbell goes on the offensive, figures out why his wife was killed, gets evidence of that murder, discovers and then, uh, masks to true villain, battles the villain and then winds proof of his innocence. So if you start in the middle, you can figure out the beginning and ending of that middle. Richard Kimball is a talented doctor who becomes a murder convict, being one side of the story. And the other side of the story is that Dr. Campbell proves his innocence and avenges his wife. The point I'm trying to get across is that determining the beginning and ending is much easier when you know the middle. And then of course, when you know that beginning, the middle and the ending, all you need to do is figure out the logical scenes that move the story between these three points. In summary, this plotting method approaches the story from the perspective that the mirror moment is the principal seen upon which the entire story spins. Perhaps most importantly, when done correctly, this technique will eliminate the sagging, middle. 140. Conclusion : Congratulations on completing this comprehensive course. If you enjoyed this course, I ask you to please leave a review because that would be tremendously helpful. Thank you. And I sincerely wish you the best of luck.