Tag Archives: Julaina Kleist_Corwin

A Subplot in Hada’s Fog?

 

Hada's Fog

Hada’s Fog

 

 

 

The next scene in Hada’s Fog has been posted. (See Menu above.)

Law books

Abe is being sued for a pilot program involving children with learning problems. Lev suspects Samuel is manipulating his brother’s personal life as well as his financial success.

Bira, Lev’s daughter-in-law, has concerns about Samuel’s possible infidelity and asks Lev for help. At this point in the novel, the unconfirmed infidelity appears to be a subplot. The usual subplot involves supporting characters, minimal impact on the protagonist’s world, and takes less space in the pages of events.

Bira is a supporting character, however,  as the story continues, the possible infidelity contributes to the main plot. It takes as much page space as Samuel’s interference with Abe’s life. It feeds her denial that Samuel is guilty of  the other family members’ suspicions. It increases Hada’s defense of her first-born.

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Wired for Story: Lisa Cron

In my writing class, one member, Julie Royce (author of PILZ), suggested I use Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story as a “text” book. I did and we studied Cron’s take on writing for a couple months. Today, I found her TED Talk which I’m sharing here. I like to hear authors’ real voices.

Some highlights are “We think in story.”

“Story is a super power.”

We live vicariously in the stories we read, not to escape from life, but by the protagonist’s experience,  we learn how to navigate reality and  how to survive if we find ourselves in a similar situation. We don’t get “lost in a story”, we are in it, we are the protagonist.  All stories are a call to action. We feel the surge of empowerment when the story is over. “Never underestimate the power of story.”

Learn storytelling from a good writer, not only to improve our own writing, but for effective communication. People will listen to a point if we tell a story around it.

Thank you, Lisa Cron.

 

BTW, I’ve added to the story I’m telling about Hada. The next segment is in Hada’s Fog on the menu bar.  She’s on the plane from New Jersey to Berkeley, California and not happy about leaving home.

Fog 2 for Hada

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Characters' Decisions

Eleanor Roosevelt decisionAs writers we have to put our main character in tight spots where decisions have to be made. We make the decision harder when there are no right answers. The character has to weigh what is better between two actions where neither one is guaranteed to turn out right. The deep tension, which is more than superficial tension, involves impossible situations for the character and the decision to go one way or the other is a risk, regardless which she chooses.

In the next chapter of my new novel, Norman in the Painting, Jill will have to decide if helping Norman is more important than putting her friends in danger of being killed. Norman has become her new love interest, yet Evelyn and Maggie have been loyal friends for many years. The antagonist has given her an ultimatum. If Jill continues to be involved with Norman, he will kill her friends one by one. Hard decision, deep tension, what will she do?

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Characters’ Decisions

Eleanor Roosevelt decisionAs writers we have to put our main character in tight spots where decisions have to be made. We make the decision harder when there are no right answers. The character has to weigh what is better between two actions where neither one is guaranteed to turn out right. The deep tension, which is more than superficial tension, involves impossible situations for the character and the decision to go one way or the other is a risk, regardless which she chooses.

In the next chapter of my new novel, Norman in the Painting, Jill will have to decide if helping Norman is more important than putting her friends in danger of being killed. Norman has become her new love interest, yet Evelyn and Maggie have been loyal friends for many years. The antagonist has given her an ultimatum. If Jill continues to be involved with Norman, he will kill her friends one by one. Hard decision, deep tension, what will she do?

2 Comments

Filed under Writing Tips