What Feels Like Home

Photo credit: gary.hge on Flickr

From May 10-15, I was in Michigan, visiting family in the house I'd lived in for roughly two years.

I've had a rather migratory life.

In my twenty-six years, I've lived in six homes and two dorms scattered across three states. My late teens and early twenties in particular were especially uprooted—between colleges and family moves I was constantly aware that wherever I was was temporary, that I wasn't going to stay. This made a lot of things awkward—especially relationships—but the most lasting effect was I never really felt at home.

Which, you know, comes with knowing you don't plan to stay. You don't want to get attached to anything—not even a building—if you know you'll be packing up and going elsewhere soon.

But as I flew back to my apartment, in the lovely city that welcomed me back in September, I was struck by a realization. Though I've only been here for about eight and a half months, for the first time in literally years...I really feel at home.

For the first time in ages I'm planting roots. I'm planning to stay. I'm making long-term relationships and collecting things of my own and most of all I feel good here. I can really say it's good to be home.

Which, to put a writing spin on this, has me thinking: what is home to my characters?

The answer, of course, will vary manuscript to manuscript and character to character. But I think it can be an interesting question to consider while drafting—and you never know what insights it might give you into your characters' minds.

What is home to your characters? 

Twitter-sized bite:

After 6 homes, 2 dorms, & 3 states @Ava_Jae considers what feels like home to them—& how to use that question to develop characters. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Is Your Protagonist Too Passive?

Is your protagonist too passive? What does that even mean? Today I'm talking about a common protagonist issue and why it's important to keep in mind.

RELATED VLOGS:

• 3 Common Protagonist Problems
• Elements of a Great Protagonist
• On Character Motivations & Goals
• How to Choose POV Characters

Have you ever written a passive protagonist?

Twitter-sized bite:

What is a passive protagonist and why is that a problem? @Ava_Jae breaks down this common character issue in today's vlog. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Writing Marginalized Characters

What should you know about writing marginalized characters? Today I'm talking about some of the important things to remember.

RELATED VLOGS:

• 4 Common Clichés to Avoid in Your Writing
• Writing is Political

What do you think?

Twitter-sized bite:

Thinking about writing marginalized characters but don't know where to start? @Ava_Jae breaks down important things to keep in mind. (Click to tweet)

On Writing Nuanced Relationships

Photo credit: alhussainy on Flickr

I've been thinking a lot lately about how people are complicated. How we can still love people who have hurt us—even repeatedly, even without apology. How one person can do wonderful and terrible things, how they can hurt someone without intending to and intentions don't matter when they do; how apologies don't have to be accepted and even when they are it doesn't always mean things will go on as they were.

I've been thinking about all of that and how that affects relationships, particularly when those relationships are between family members.

While I'd never claim complicated family relationships don't exist in kidlit (YA included), I do think depictions tend to happen along a good/bad binary. Either families are lovely and wholesome (the Weasleys) or they're downright awful and abusive (the Dursleys). But when writing about families, I've increasingly wanted to depict something more complicated, more nuanced. Families who love each other, but also sometimes lash out, or make damaging mistakes. And sometimes those mistakes can't be undone with an apology.

It's a hard thing to write. Hitting the balance between bad and good in a way where the bad doesn't outweigh the good (at least, unintentionally) can be a challenge—and like most things in writing, it takes a lot of feedback to figure out if you've hit the mark. But it's a challenge I'll continue to tackle with different characters in different ways.

Have you written complicated character relationships? What was it like? 

Twitter-sized bite:

Author @Ava_Jae blogs about the challenge of writing complicated character relationships. (Click to tweet)

Do You Use Character Trinkets?

Photo credit: Nancy Big Crow on Flickr

It can be really interesting to consider what items your characters treasure. Most of the time, these items hold more sentimental value than actual value—in A Gathering of Shadows, for example, Lila carries a shard of a statue from the first book as a sort of security blanket. In the same series, Kell's item is his magic coat—he doesn't go anywhere not wearing it, if he can help it.

Trinkets your characters carry can be a subtle way to deepen your characters, or hint at what they're feeling. A character might reach for their trinket when they're nervous, or upset, for some kind of reassurance. They might wear their trinket for all to see or display it in a prominent place—or they might hide it, as something too personal to share with others.

I like using trinkets to help ground my characters—after all, many of us can relate to reaching for something familiar in our uncertain moments. Of course the danger, for me, is I sometimes forget the characters have them, then have to add them back in during revisions (whoops!), but I do think they can be a useful (and easy) way to add another dimension to your characters.

So now I'm curious: do you use character trinkets?

Twitter-sized bite:

What items do your characters treasure? @Ava_Jae talks using trinkets to deepen your characters. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: How to Write Realistic Relationships

It's Valentine's Day! So in honor of everyone's favorite (*cough*) romantic holiday of the year, here are some tips on writing realistic relationships.

RELATED LINKS: 

• On Character Motivations and Goals (vlog)
• On Writing Messy Characters (vlog)
• How to Write Awesome Kiss Scenes
• How to Write Romance Well
• Romance in Writing: Don't Force It

What are some of your favorite relationships from books, movies, or TV shows?

Twitter-sized bite:

Working on a relationship in your WIP? @Ava_Jae vlogs some tips on writing realistic relationships. #writetip (Click to tweet)

How to Write Convincing Unreliable Narrators

Photo credit: erichhh

I really enjoy unreliable narrators, something I've mentioned on the blog here before. There's something especially memorable and impactful about discovering partway through a book that the one character you've trusted implicitly—the character telling the story—has in fact been lying to you, or not telling the whole truth.

Of course, pulling off a convincing unreliable narrator who keeps secrets convincingly isn't as easy as it sounds (and it doesn't sound easy to begin with). It can be tough to toe the line between keeping whatever secrets your narrator is keeping and doing it in a way that both makes sense to the story, especially in hindsight, and fits the character without being overly convenient.

So how do you do that? The main keys that I've found revolve both around character and realism.

• Character. In order to pull off an unreliable narrator, why they're unreliable has to make sense for their character. A character who values honesty above all else isn't going to skew the facts of the story on their favor, for example. Unreliable narrators, especially those that are being purposefully unreliable, are often smart, strategic characters with quite a bit of charisma—which is necessary for the character to convincingly deceive the readers until the time comes for the reveal.


• Realism. This is an issue I see in published books even, from time to time, and it tends to cause a lot of griping from readers, and understandably so. Sometimes, when a POV character is keeping a secret, they mention the secret all the time. They remind readers that they have a secret but don't say what the secret is. I'm filing this under realism because, quite frankly, this isn't realistic. The whole point of having a secret is not talking about it—that's what a secret is. So to reference a secret and not say what it is becomes a tease that makes little sense in context—and it tends to turn readers against the narrator. 

With both of those elements tackled, you'll be well on your way to creating a stronger unreliable narrator.

What tips do you have for writing convincing secrets and unreliable narrators?

Twitter-sized bite:

How do you write a convincing unreliable narrator? @Ava_Jae shares a couple tips. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: 3 Common Protagonist Problems

Writing a compelling protagonist is essential to every book—so today I'm sharing three common protagonist problems so hopefully you can avoid these mistakes.

RELATED LINKS: 

• How to Write Without Filtering (vlog)
• On Character Motivations & Goals (vlog)
• Elements of a Great Protagonist (vlog)
• How to Make Your Villains Awesome (vlog)
• The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi

Have you made these mistakes with your protagonists before?

Twitter-sized bites:

Working on a novel? Make sure your MC doesn't have these 3 common protagonist problems. #vlog (Click to tweet) 

Writing a compelling protagonist is key—but does your MC have these 3 common protagonist problems? (Click to tweet)

Are Your Characters Flawed?

Photo credit: Jenavieve on Flickr

Every once in a while, I fall into the trap of loving my characters too much. By this I don't mean that I don't put them through hell twice-over—I can't think of a single manuscript where that was a problem for me *insert evil smiley face*—instead, I mean sometimes I forget about something rather important: flaws.

More times than not, this happens for secondary characters—the best friend, the love interest, the people that, for all intents and purposes, you're supposed to love. Sometimes, for these characters, I do such a great job making them lovable that I forget they're not actually supposed to be perfect until a reader pokes me and asks what their flaw is and I can't answer.

Whenever this happens, I open up my copy of The Negative Trait Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (the geniuses behind The Emotion Thesaurus). It has an enormously long list of possible character flaws, with descriptions of each flaw, what causes it, what it may lead to, etc. which often helps inspire me when it comes to developing flaws that make sense for the character.

And that is the key there: the flaw should fit organically into your character so that it doesn't feel tacked on or ill-fitting. It wouldn't make sense, for example, for Sherlock Holmes to be obtuse or not think through his actions—but his arrogance and bluntness definitely makes sense for who he is.

It's definitely important to remember flaws when creating characters, because characters without them start to feel too perfect—and consequently too unrealistic—if you're not careful. And besides, a character well-balanced with flaws can create new opportunities for tension and conflict, which is always a pretty nice bonus.

What are some of your favorite flawed characters?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Are your characters flawed? @Ava_Jae talks the importance of balanced character development. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Character Motivations and Goals

On the importance of character goals and motivations for all of your major characters.



RELATED LINKS: 

• How to Name Your Characters (vlog)
• Elements of a Great Protagonist (vlog)
• On Writing Messy Characters (vlog)
• How to Make Your Villains Awesome (vlog)
• Keep Your Characters Moving

How and when do you figure out your character goals and motivations? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

Author @Ava_Jae vlogs about the importance of character goals & motivations for all of your major characters. (Click to tweet)

Let’s Talk About Crowley

Photo credit: drkold on Flickr

So it’s nearly Halloween, and as tends to happen every year I’ve come to realize I hadn’t really posted anything Halloween-y this month. But as Writability has had several Halloweens, I’ve already posted about writing fears (debunked), rounded up my excellent villains posts, and talked about scary books. Which has left me all month trying to answer to annual question of “what will I post about around Halloween?”

I was coming up empty until last night when, starting Season 10 of Supernatural, it occurred to me that what was become one of my favorite characters is most definitely a villain.

So let’s talk about Crowley.

For those of you who do not watch Supernatural (and if you don’t—why not?), here is a brief, mostly non-spoilery rundown: Crowley is introduced as a crossroads demon (a demon who makes deals with people, usually to give them something they really want in exchange for their soul ten years later), who gleefully maneuvers a homophobic man into kissing him (crossroads demons seal all of their deals with a kiss). From there, over the course of many seasons, he gradually moves up (or down?) the demon hierarchy until he becomes a very important person of evilness.

Crowley does some pretty despicable things throughout his time on the show, including kidnapping and torturing people—some of which are characters we like, double-crossing the protagonists several times over, and manipulating just about everyone all to serve his own interests. On paper, Crowley is not a character to gravitate towards.

But on the other hand, he also has some…shall we say endearing traits? For example, his nonchalant attitude, the way he nicknames Sam “Moose” and Dean “Squirrel” (I don’t know why, but I can’t hate it), his never-ending sarcasm and dry British humor, the way he’s always one step ahead (have I mentioned lately I love smart villains?) and let’s not forget that along the way, he does actually help the protagonists…who then go ahead and try to kill him anyway many times, because he’s a demon. And evil. So.

On top of that, Crowley also has one trait that really stuck out to me most: he never breaks his contracts. Does he create loopholes? Absolutely. But he keeps to his word down to the letter. I won’t go as far to say that he’s honorable, but there’s something to be said for a character that keeps to their word.

So basically, what I’m saying here is as evil of a character as Crowley is, he has depth. He’s not one-sided—something that really comes into play when spoilery things happen in Seasons 8 and 9 and, I’m assuming, 10. By now, at the beginning of Season 10, I can no longer deny that he’s grown on me as a character, and for reasons I won’t get into because spoilers, he’s even become sympathetic.

It will probably not surprise you to hear that I really enjoy writing (and reading, and watching) multi-dimensional, and when possible, sympathetic, villains. Because for me, at least, while I do occasionally enjoy villains who are indisputably one-sidedly evil, the ones that surprise me with other sides of their personalities and even force me to like them (because, curse them, sometimes they have moments that are so damn likable) are frequently the ones that stick with me long after they meet their demise.

Assuming they meet their demise at all, that is…

Do you enjoy multi-dimensional villains? Who are some of your favorites?

Twitter-sized bites:

How do you make villains likable? @Ava_Jae analyzes one of SPN's most popular villains, Crowley, to answer. (Click to tweet)  

Like layered villains? @Ava_Jae talks about her favorite SPN villain Crowley and explores what makes him likable. (Click to tweet)

Are Your Characters Too Passive?

Photo credit: Brother O'Mara on Flickr

So one of the critiques I’ve received a few times on WIPs I’ve been revising this year is centered on my characters. Specifically, characters who aren’t active enough.

Now, by “not active enough” I don’t mean that they didn’t exercise enough (though I mean, that might be the case too, but anyway). When you get the critique that your characters are too passive, it usually means they’re being reactive far too often. Things are happening to them, and they’re reacting to what’s happening, but they aren’t acting as agents of change. Which can quickly become a problem.

Now the good news is after getting this critique on two different projects, I’m now being super extra careful when plotting future WIPs to make sure that doesn’t happen again (because surprise! This is so much easier to fix when your book is a bunch of bullet points and flashcards). Bad news is if you get this critique on an existing, written manuscript, you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and do some heavy lifting to fix it if it’s a widespread problem.

So how do you fix passive characters?

1. Consider where your protagonist is reacting where they could be taking action. Depending on how widespread the issue is, this may be after a certain point in your manuscript, or something you’ll need to consider throughout the plot. Either way, pick some major points where your protagonist could be creating change and jot them down. 


2. Be open to making big changes. This is important because when you change the way your characters behave, particularly when you’re giving them more agency to make change, well, there are going to be changes. But being afraid to revamp part or most of your plot will prevent you from making the fixes you need, so the best you can do is accept right now that there will possibly be large changes that you’ll need to make. And that’s okay. 


3. Ask yourself, “What decision can my protagonist make that would create a change?” Brainstorm several ideas until you come up with something that makes sense for your plot and you’re happy with. Some ideas you come up with might sound ridiculous, but don’t filter—just write down whatever you come up with and filter them later. While ideally you want to go with a change that will weave into your existing plot well, as I said in the last point, don’t be afraid to go with something that’ll require a little legwork. Ultimately, you want to go with whatever will make your story the best that it can be—and sometimes that means a lot of work while revising. 

Have you ever encountered this problem, either in your own work or in a book/movie/TV show?

Twitter-sized bite:

Are your characters too passive? @Ava_Jae talks how to fix this problematic issue. (Click to tweet)

On Developing Characters

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Fun fact: after I’ve finished plotting a potential book from start to finish and I’ve prepared everything I need to to start writing, I know very little about my characters.

I mean, when it comes to my protagonist and love interest(s), I know super basics like name and physical description, but if I’ve fleshed out any personality at all it’s usually only a really vague idea, if anything.

The truth is, I don’t really get to know my characters until I’ve started first drafting—and that also goes for my protagonist. And for me, this where the fun almost-pantsing comes in—because while I know pretty much how the plot is going to lay out, I don’t really know how my characters are going to develop, at least, not in the first draft.

This is also why I don’t call a WIP a WIP until I’ve hit 10,000 words—I have, on more than one occasion, started writing a totally solid idea then put it away because the protagonist’s voice just didn’t sit with me. But that’s something I really can’t predict until I’ve started writing.

There are a few things my protagonists tend to have in common: they’re often snarky because I’m a snarkmonster IRL, they’re often internally conflicted because I love writing internal conflict, and many times they’re outcasts of some sort, because I love writing characters on the fringe of society.

But honestly? That stuff can manifest in limitless ways, and there’s still so much room for drastically different personalities, and ways of speaking and thinking and viewing the world. And I love figuring it out along the way, and I never tire of having a protagonist surprise me with a stray thought, or memory, or off-handed comment, or unexpected action that I never could have predicted from day one.

In later drafts is where I then take those personality seeds and push them further. It’s where I dig into characters and unearth the stuff the first draft hinted at—it’s where I push them harder to be raw and real.

Unlike plotting, I tend to develop my characters really instinctively. From a wisp of an idea upon character conception to a fully-developed, layered character over time.

And that’s how I develop my characters. How do you develop yours?

Twitter-sized bite:

Writer @Ava_Jae shares how she develops characters instinctively. What does character development look like for you? (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Elements of a Great Protagonist

What makes a great protagonist? Today I'm talking five essential elements to engaging protagonists. What would you add to the list?

 

RELATED LINKS: 

• On Writing Messy Characters (vlog)
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Voice
• Thoughts from the Intern Slush Pile: Is Your Voice Up to Snuff?
• Voice: You Are Not Your Characters
• Character Beauty in Imperfection
• Characters: Static vs. Dynamic
• Stupid Characters vs. Stupid Decisions: They're Not the Same
• On Writing "Real" Characters

Twitter-sized bite: 

What makes a great protagonist? @Ava_Jae vlogs about five essential elements of an engaging MC. (Click to tweet)

Character Development Lessons from Game of Thrones

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So about two months ago I finally did that thing everyone and their brother was telling me to do: I watched Game of Thrones.

While usually I’m the kind of person that prefers to read the books before watching the movie (or, in this case, TV show), as the A Song of Ice and Fire books didn’t really grab me when I tried to pick up the first one, I made an exception this time. And…well…

Okay fine, I’ll say it—I’m hooked. (Yes, yes, you were all right, congratulations everyone. *sigh*)

I’ve been thinking for a little bit about why I’ve been enjoying the series so much, and the answer, for me at least, lies in the characters. Because damn, GRRM writes crazy interesting characters. Even the totally despicable ones are fascinating in their own right, which really appeals to me.

And so, because the characters are so very well written, I think there are some lessons that we, as writers, can learn from them. So let’s take a look at what makes these characters so interesting.

• Every character has motivations, dreams, etc. What’s great about this is I’m not even talking about just the main ensemble characters—even minor characters, “evil” characters, and characters with short life spans are fully fleshed out with plans, dreams, desires, fears and powerful motivations. Whether it’s Olenna Tyrell (Margaery’s grandmother), Walder Frey, Renly Baratheon, or someone else, every character is layered and ridiculously well-developed. 


• No one is all good or all bad. Good characters make selfish decisions, and antagonistic characters have people they care about and base their decisions on (somewhat understandable) motivations. In fact, I’d say more characters fall somewhere in the gray area morality-wise than very good or very bad—which becomes especially interesting because you’re never quite sure how they’re going to behave. 


• Characters make mistakes. Fatal ones, in fact, that end up getting themselves (or people they care about…or both) killed. This is huge because not only does it humanize the characters (after all, who doesn’t make mistakes?) but it also makes us doubly worried about them when we know their decisions could go awry very very quickly. Which leads me to…


• Every character is in danger. This is sort of a controversial point about GoT, but I actually love it. Oftentimes, people go into a book (or series, or movie) assuming that the main “good” characters are going to emerge unscathed (or, you know, at least survive). No such assumptions can be made about GoT, which I weirdly like because it means I worry about everyone. It’s realistic (in the sense that no one is magically safe) and something I really admire about the series. 

Do you watch (or read) Game of Thrones? What lessons have you learned? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

Watch or read Game of Thrones? @Ava_Jae shares character development lessons to be learned from this popular series. (Click to tweet)

Writing Excellent Villains Round-Up

Photo credit: Annoying Noises on Flickr

So Halloween is next week, and so is NaNoWriMo, which means now is the perfect time to talk about villains. Right? Right. 

But first, story time. 

Once upon a time, baby writer Ava thought that in order for villains to be truly villainous, they had to be super 666% evil with metaphorical twirling mustaches and maniacal laughing fits that they practiced in their (evil) mirrors. She was convinced that the best bad guys were just that—super dripping-with-evil bad. 

She was wrong. By a lot, really. 

As it turns out, I’ve found that some of the most interesting characters, whether antagonist or protagonists, aren’t completely good or completely evil—they’re gray characters. And so I wrote a post on writing gray characters. 

It’s also important, when developing and writing your characters, especially if you want them to feel “real,” is to figure out what they want and what their motivation is—something, I think, that’s especially important for protagonists and antagonists. It also helps to know what your characters are afraid of, because yes, even your villain has fears, too. (Or at least they should). 

Finally, I’ve learned along the way that if you don’t love your villain, chances are your readers won’t love him (or even remotely like him), either. 

Also, for fun, here are my top five favorite villains.

Now go forth and write excellent villains! 

What tips do you have for writing great villains? 

Twitter-sized bites:

In preparation for #NaNoWriMo & Halloween, @Ava_Jae shares helpful links for getting your villains right. (Click to tweet)  

Brainstorming your antagonist for an upcoming WIP? Writer @Ava_Jae shares helpful links on writing villains. (Click to tweet)

On (Not) Making Assumptions About My Characters

Photo credit: harshxpatel on Flickr

The first eight novels I wrote featured white, able-bodied, neurotypical, cisgendered, straight protagonists and love interests. It makes me more than a little cringe-y thinking about it.

Over the years, the internet (namely Twitter and tumblr) and campaigns like  #weneeddiversebooks, Diversity in YA, DiversifYA and Disability in Kidlit really opened my eyes to the assumptions I was making about my cast of characters without even realizing it. And for that, I’m seriously grateful.

It used to be, when I started brainstorming characters, I never really gave much consideration to their race, health, sexual orientation or gender (beyond the binary, at least). It’s not that I was deliberately cutting diversity out, it just hadn’t even occurred to me that there were more options to consider.

Now I make a point not to make any assumptions about my characters before I start brainstorming. By keeping an open mind, I’ve been able to come up with a way more diverse cast of characters for my more recent WIPs, something that’s occasionally scary (because representing minorities well is just as important as representing them at all) and pretty exciting.

Diversifying my work is something that’s become increasingly important to me, but I think the other side of the coin is to make sure you buy books with diversity in them—after all, not supporting the diversity that’s already out there is pretty counterproductive.

So some great books with diversity that I’ve read (or whose series I’ve started to read) and recommend include:

• Otherbound by Corrine Duyvis
• Every Day by David Levithan
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson
• Paper Gods trilogy by Amanda Sun
• Blood of Eden series by Julie Kagawa

Also on my TBR list: 

• Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills
• Far from You by Tess Sharpe
• If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
• Pantomime by Laura Lam

Now I want to hear from you—do you have any diverse recommendations for me? And have you ever made assumptions about your characters?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Do you make assumptions about your characters while writing? @Ava_Jae talks diversity and keeping an open mind. (Click to tweet)

Guest Post: Moral Ambiguity in New Adult: We’re Not in Middle Earth Anymore

Photo credit: Goodreads

I've got a really special post for you guys today! The brilliant Sarah Harian, author of NA Sci-Fi THE WICKED WE HAVE DONE (which you may or may not remember I completely raved about), graciously agreed to write a guest post for Writability. And it's a pretty fantastic one, if I do say so myself. 

Take it away, Sarah! 

Two and a half years ago, I did a pretty crazy thing. I finished my fourth manuscript, and my first manuscript to feature a bunch of pretty awful characters. This story ended up being my debut New Adult novel, THE WICKED WE HAVE DONE.

In the book, ten criminals enter a technologically advanced prison to be judged for their crimes. Several of these characters are somewhat redeeming, or at least, I think they are. But they are killers. Some feel nothing for what they’ve done. Some still feel anger against those they’ve killed because they murdered out of revenge. Others feel guilty for the manslaughter they committed.

My narrator, Evalyn, is a rarity out of all the criminals she enters the prison with. While she was the one to pull the trigger, killing an innocent man, she was forced into it by a villain who threatens her with the life of her best friend.

But Evalyn’s guilt is misplaced. She doesn’t feel guilty about the life she took. She feels guilty that, even after she committed murder, her best friend still dies. When admitting this to another character, he tells her that she did what she had to do and not feeling guilty is okay, and Evalyn sort of believes him.

The reactions to Evalyn’s internal struggles have been very polarized. Some readers have told me that, in her shoes, they could see themselves doing the same thing and feeling the same way. Other readers think that Evalyn is a terrible person and deserves to rot in jail for an eternity.

As for me? Well, I don’t know how I feel about Evalyn’s misplaced guilt. As the author of the character, you’d think that I would, but I don’t. And that’s okay.  Evalyn is morally ambiguous. While her true feelings are on display for the reader, real people have the luxury of hiding when they feel shame, or guilt, or when they feel sorry for themselves. Evalyn doesn’t.

To me, part of being a new adult is facing the concept of moral ambiguity. That’s not to say that all twenty-somethings feel indifferently about murder, because that obviously isn’t the case. But I know that my own coming-of-age consisted of the realization that the binary of good and evil rarely exists.

When I was a teenager, I read a lot of novels about good versus evil. The distinction of good versus evil in Harry Potter is obvious even in the descriptions. At the peak of their battle over the wizarding and Muggle worlds, Dumbledore is a gentle old man, and Voldemort is an ugly monster. In The Lord of the Rings, Mount Doom is described as having “fiery depths,” depicting hell. Orcs and the Nazgul are heinous, ugly creatures. The Chronicles of Narnia brim with biblical metaphors, making it obvious for young readers to tell who is good and who is bad.  Those who are pure of heart are the ones who defeat the darkness, and all others fail.

Right and wrong and good and bad are often hammered into us at a young age. As a kid, I had a guilty conscious and was full of shame every time I did anything wrong. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I opened myself up to debating the reality of good and evil. I had to force myself to come to terms with the fact that the people I deemed good weren’t as perfect as they seemed, and those I thought were bad or evil were complex human beings who loved and dreamed and had feelings just like me. That even though I didn’t agree with their life choices, they were still people. They were a thread of humanity, and their stories shouldn’t be disregarded.

I believe that New Adult is a perfect category to explore this deconstruction of the good and evil dichotomy. Often, a person’s coming-of-age brings the disillusionment of black and white, but this doesn’t have to be a negative thing in terms of creating honest narratives. New Adult is an opportunity for readers to spend time with antiheroes and antiheroines, and come to terms with the fact that maybe a character doesn’t have to be as pure of heart as Frodo Baggins to carry the ring all of the way to Mount Doom. 

Sarah Harian grew up in the foothills of Yosemite and received her B.A. and M.F.A. from Fresno State University. When not writing, she is usually hiking some mountain or another in the Sierras, playing video games with her husband, or rough-housing with her dog.

Twitter-sized bites: 

To @sarahharian "part of being a new adult is facing the concept of moral ambiguity." What do you think? (Click to tweet)  

Writing morally ambiguous characters? @sarahharian shares her experience with THE WICKED WE HAVE DONE. (Click to tweet)

Keep Your Characters Moving

Photo credit: Dr. Mark Kubert on Flickr

One of the very first elements I work out when brainstorming a new WIP is what my protagonist’s goal is. This, to me, is one of the most important elements to work out early in the process, because it’s largely what drives the story forward. 

What your protagonist wants, of course, will largely depend on the genre. In a YA Contemporary, your protagonist may want to find love or fit in with his/her peers, in a Sci-Fi they may want to survive a dangerous environment or save humanity from something devastating. Whatever it is, figuring it out early on, then keeping it in mind while you write is essential to keep a story developing. 

Why is it so important? Well, let’s think about it. 

Without some sort of goal, your protagonist has no reason to do…well…anything. If Harry lived a perfectly happy life with the Dursleys, he probably wouldn’t have been so desperate to go to Hogwarts. If Katniss didn’t care enough about her sister to take her place in the games, she never would’ve volunteered and started a revolution. If Tris had fit in with Abnegation, she never would’ve joined Dauntless and uncovered the truth about Divergence. 

Without a goal, there isn’t a story. 

This is something that’s really important to remember while you’re writing. I find that oftentimes, when a story starts to lag or the pacing grinds to a halt, it’s because the protagonist has lost sight of their goal. After all, if they’re no longer aiming to accomplish something, how is the story supposed to continue? 

The answer? It won’t. 

What tips do you have for keeping your characters moving?

Twitter-sized bites: 

"Without a goal, there isn't a story." #writingtip (Click to tweet)  

Do you know your characters' goals? Here's why writer @Ava_Jae says it's so essential. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Writing Strong Secondary Love Interests

It's Tuesday vlog time! Today I'm talking about a lesson learned from the fantastic Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo: how to write strong secondary love interests featuring Nikolai Lantsov and the Darkling.

Enjoy!

What are some of your favorite secondary love interests from books, movies, etc.? 

Twitter-sized bites:

Do you have a love triangle in your MS? Writer @Ava_Jae vlogs about how to write strong secondary love interests. (Click to tweet)  

So you've written a love triangle—but is your secondary love interest a strong enough competitor? #vlog (Click to tweet)