Creatures of Story: Hardwired for Story - Part II

 

This week we’re revisiting the idea that as humans, we’re hardwired for story and that when encountering story, we have certain expectations.

 

Lisa Cron, in her book Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence, says that readers look for patterns. Since the beginning of time, humans have searched for pattern in everything from the stars in the nighttime sky, to weather, to crops, to animal behavior and predatory habits. We each have a built-in “passion for patterns.” It’s recognizing these patterns and disruptions of patterns that has allowed us to survive as a species. “From the moment we leave the womb, [our brain] begins charting the patterns around us, always with the same agenda: What’s safe, and what had I better keep my eye on.” She argues that story is something we keep an eye on because stories often begin at a moment in a protagonist’s life when the pattern stops working or has been disrupted. It’s the day everything changed.

For readers, information gathered in a story is evidence a pattern exists, and the excitement they draw from reading comes from recognizing patterns and piecing the meaning of the pattern together. They engage and they feel smart when they’re proven right. “When a story meets our brain’s criteria, we relax and slip into the protagonist’s skin, eager to experience what his or her struggle feels like, without having to leave the comfort of home.” Readers believe that everything authors include in a story is there for a reason. A story is an interlocked pattern that will lead them somewhere meaningful.

In The Beginning
In a story, a reader expects three things: a setup, a payoff, and the road between the two situations. A reader wants a pattern to begin to emerge that tells them the elements of the story. They want to see the plot--what happens, the protagonist--the someone it happens to and how she changes because of what happens to her, and the story question--the goal.

But why is it necessary for us as humans to engage with story and put the pieces of the pattern together? Why do we even care? This story we’re experiencing hasn’t happened to us, it’s happened to some fictional protagonist. So what’s the draw?

Cron says we care because “[s]tories are about how we, rather than the world around us, change. They grab us only when they allow us to experience how it would feel to navigate the plot. Thus, story … is the internal journey, not an external one. … All elements of story … work in unison to create what appears to the reader as reality, only sharper, clearer, and far more entertaining, because stories do what our cognitive unconscious does; filter out everything that would distract us from the situation at hand.”

And it’s on this search for pattern that the reader will identify with your protagonist to navigate the rough waters of your story to find truth, meaning, and/or an entertaining experience.

Cron asserts that the three things readers look for on the first page are:

1. Whose story is this?
Who is the protagonist? “[W]hat the reader feels is driven by what the protagonist feels. We climb inside the protagonist’s skin” and we feel what she feels. Give readers a visceral experience.

2. What’s happening here?
Big picture clues in the first few pages tell us what’s happening and what issue the protagonist will struggle with for the full story. We want to immediately understand the pattern of her life and what has disrupted that pattern as the story opens.

3. What’s at stake?
Something important hangs in the balance for the protagonist, something specific to this protagonist’s quest. What is it? The reader needs to know the stakes to invest in the story.

In the End
In the end, it’s on this internal journey “along the road from setup to payoff, the reader always has the sense that it might go either way. What keeps us reading is the building desire to find out.” The internal journey creates an anticipation that readers love and keep them following the story and the character arc and it gives them an emotional payoff by the end.

Therefore, to meet these reader expectations that readers often don’t even know they possess, as writers, we need to follow three rules:

1. Provide a clear path between the setup and the payoff.
2. Create a road or journey that unfolds for a reader on the page.
3. Give the reader (and the protagonist) a payoff that is not logically impossible.

Readers are smart. Once they spot a pattern, readers will test it against their own knowledge of the world. If you, as a writer, don’t think about the road between setup and payoff, take them on a meaningful journey between the two, and give them a logical payoff in the end, they’ll walk away unsatisfied. And there’s nothing worse for a Creature of Story than to walk away dissatisfied from something they were hardwired to crave and use to find meaning in their own lives. Give them a worthy setup, a good payoff, and the emotional journey between the two.

It’s what readers deserve. It’s what they expect. It’s what they need.

Mother's Day Revisited

Some mothers are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together. -Pearl S. Buck

            Mother.  The word is rife with diverse meanings and deep emotion.  The mother archetype spans many types, from the attentive and loving parent to one who abandons or hurts her child.  In certain contexts, the word can even be an obscene oath. 

Carl Jung stated that the mother archetype exists in the child.  The baby projects the motherly ideals on the person who it sees as the nurturer.  That can be its biological mother or the nanny who loves the infant as her own.

Mother archetypes abound.  Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is seen as both scheming and ridiculous in her pursuit of husbands for her flock of dowry deficient daughters.  Abigail “Marmee” March, a rock to the family during their father’s absence, wise and imperfect, instructing Jo in holding her temper by using her attempts to keep her own as an example.  And who can forget that shudder-worthy moment when Norman Bates spun that chair around and Mother Bates was mummified?   Aaaaaah!

Currently, I’m reading Abigail Jones by Grace Calloway.  The book raises the specter of Lilith, who is the mother of the demon world.  Lilith, in Jewish tradition, was Adam’s first wife, cast out of Eden when she refused to submit to Adam’s authority as her husband.  She sends her evil daughters into the world with the express purpose of proliferating evil and debauchery.   The offspring share a consciousness with their mother and a single-minded desire to carry out her wishes—a Jungian notion to be sure.     

In fictional stories, it seems that Mother often has an agenda—whether it is selfish or dedicated to the welfare of the child.  Real life is often more complicated.  The relationship between mother and child is deep and it resonates through the child’s lifetime, whether it is positive or negative.   Mother’s example can either be an inspiration or a cautionary tale.  Or, it is a little of both.   

The mothers that ring true for me are the ones who are complex.  The ones who try to do the best they can with the cards they’ve been dealt.  Love their imperfect children as they struggle to come to terms with their own imperfections. 

Who are your favorites mothers from books or movies?  What do you like about them?   

Happy Mother’s Day to beautifully flawed mothers everywhere.     

Group Dynamics

As some of you may know, I love watching television shows in one big gulp. The entire season. In as few sittings as possible. It's probably similar to my reading one author's books all at once, like when I went on a Janet Evanovich run and read all 18 Stephanie Plum/Morelli/Ranger novels. Scrummy. Even when they were repetitive. Or all of Amanda Quick's novels, starting with Seduction and moving forward to the Arcane novels.  What can I say. I'm a completist.

So, series. What is it about a series that I love so much? It isn't the soap opera, though I'm sure some of the shows I watch have it. (Hello Damon/Stefan/Elena!) But when I look at the shows I watch, it is the characters and the ensemble cast.  Big Bang Theory works so well not because the characters are growing and changing and arcing. It works because of the cast - and also didn't work when Raj's sister was added in as a love interest for Leonard. Her character detracted from the show, though it was fun to watch Amy and Bernadette stand by Penny throughout the season.

Sometimes, the soap takes over and change has to happen in order to save the show. Like Vampire Diaries. We ALL wanted Elena to dump Stefan and choose Damon.  But giving in to the sexual tension can be the death of a show (hello Moonlighting) (and also goodbye Remington Steele). This year, finally, Elena GETS TO HAVE SEX WITH DAMON, and I stopped watching it mid-season because without the antici- of maybe sexy times with Damon- pation, the show got incredibly complicated. So complicated, in fact, that the cast had to all sit down in one episode and explain who was killing whom, which werewolf was under which Original's spell, and who was controlling the witches and on and on and I just didn't care, because Stefan looked like a big pouty boy and Damon was finally getting his payoff for being hawt and brooding and misunderstood.

My current marathon is Jethro Gibbs and his team and NCIS. There is no soap here. It is episodic, a little slapstick, and the sexual tension is kept incredibly mild. Instead, I am drawn in to watching Gibbs father his band of merry agents. Of course, it helps that he is hot, though maybe not Damon hot. He's an alpha who leads his pack and is always always there for them. As I watched season 1, I was struck by the fact that nobody has really changed. Even edgy, funky Abby with her tats and her pigtails, still, 9 seaons later, has the same tats and pigtails. Where did her edge go? Wouldn't someone that out there have changed her style by now? When will McGee stop being a Probie? And seriously, would the show not work if Tony, finally, grew up and got a wife and family? But I'm still watching it. Because of Gibbs. If they take him out of the equation (and if I remember correctly, they will one of these seasons), then the show will fall apart.

Look at Buffy. Those writers never gave that woman a break in the romance department. But as I was saying, they were able to remove Angel from the equation, and the show still flourished. Until that horrific was it 5^th season? The Willow the Bad Witch season, all crackly faced and revengeful? If only they had given her the Oz for reals, and not just for a season or so. He made a great addition to the cast. Crackle face did not.  I'm still astounded by the choice to shift time and space and give Buffy a sister. Just give her a fully formed, teenaged sister. In what, season five. And because the show is paranormal, it could be explained away and that was that.

But how does this relate to writing. Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle has been writing series over the last few years. Some that connect laterally through a single sub genre, and some that connect unilaterally through all three. But one thing I've noticed is she has very little connection from one book to the next. You may get a brief scene or two, but not much more. In her Amarylis/Zinnia/Orchid series, there was a tiny bit more overlap, but generally she holds each book to its own cast of characters. Maybe there will be an object that will appear in each, and a few times a character may be introduced, but don't  expect to get a lovely glimpse of them again the way that Susan Elizabeth Philips does in her Chicago Stars series.          I get the feeling with Jayne Ann Krentz that when her hero and heroine have solved the crime and admitted their love, the story is over for her, and the characters can be put to bed. 

But when I reach the end of the book, I still want to be in that world. I still want to know what's going on. Are they happy? Do they still have friends, even though the world is no longer about to end or neither character is having to fend off a deranged killer. I care if they marry or have children or remain friends with characters in other books. Nora Roberts, for me, is the master when it comes to groups and group scenes. Her ability to create such authentic composites is incredible. Whether as part of a series when the Scooby gang is finally altogether, or in one of her stand alones, her development of separate characters, giving them all there own voice, their own mannerisms, is quite remarkable.  

Tell me which ensemble cast shows or books work for you? Do you have a favorite? Are you in it for the soap or for Scooby gang?  How easily do you grow bored with a series, book or tv show? Why? 

True North (aka the WRW Retreat)

Last week was our local chapter -- The Washington Romance Writers -- annual "In the Company of Writers" Retreat. For this week's blog, several of the R8 share their favorite moments from the weekend AND one lucky commenter will win a signed copy of "The Good Woman" by the fabulous Jane Porter, courtesy of Candy Lyons.



Now, without further ado, I give you The Best of the WRW Retreat:

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My favorite part of Retreat is how inspired I am after I come home.  I get so many ideas from the conferences and from being in that environment.  It's nice to be around so many people who share your passion for writing and books.

---Lisa McQuay

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I love going to the WRW Retreat. First of all it's close, so travel is easy. Second, it's a cozy jumble of the nicest women I know and reminds me of the sleep away camp I loved as a girl. But thirdly, I love WRW because it gives me time to reflect on where I am with my writing goals. There are no soccer games to interrupt me, no office work to do, no man unable to squat in order to look on the bottom refrigerator shelf. Just me and my own thoughts. Each session I attend, each writer I speak with, and each guest I listen to (and laugh with), helps me reset my internal compass, reestablishing the true north of my writing life. I leave the Retreat with revised goals, a renewed sense of purpose and an action plan scribbled in the margins of my workshop notes. This year, I'm writing little pep talk notes to myself in my calendar to keep the focus and purpose going all through the year.

---Shellie Williams

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People say that in heading to a conference, one should have an idea of what you want to get from the experience. I usually forget to do this until after I come home. So useful! But this year my goals were to leave my social anxiety at home, do a good enough job reading for American Author that I wasn’t booed from the room, and at the last minute, I decided I’d like to come home with at least one request from an industry professional to see my current WIP. Score! Well, at least on points one and three. Point two…hmm, I didn’t hear any booing and no one came up to me after AA to tell me how I ruined their story, so I’m gonna call that a win. And for being last minute, goal number three is another big win because it’s tied into goal number one. In leaving my anxiety behind, I opened myself up to taking a risk and it paid off. How cool is that?

---Keely Thrall

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My absolute favorite part of the retreat was Sunday morning. I know, counter-intuitive, right? By Sunday morning we're all exhausted. LOL. But, I loved listening to Jane Porter's Sunday morning workshop and Cathy Maxwell's motivational send-off. Jane Porter said a few things that stuck with me: 1.) Attitude is everything; it's what sets you apart from other writers and it will be what helps you succeed in life. 2.) Relax. Be like the surfer who learns to relax on their board between sets of waves. Don't sit there and rail and shake your fist saying, "The waves will never come." The waves will come. The opportunities in life always come. Relax between the sets. Be assured the opportunities for success will come and be ready, but relax. 3.) Learn to take a hit like a quarterback. Rejection and hits will come in life. We understand that on some level. But we need to prepare ourselves like football players. When a QB throws that perfect pass, he knows--more than likely--that he's going to take a hit. He prepares for it and he knows how to take it without it leaving lasting damage. As writers, we need to do the same. We know rejections and hits are going to come. So we need to mentally and physically prepare for them so they don't keep us down. Jane Porter gave me a lot to think about and I loved it! Cathy Maxwell's "Go Write!" send-off was the last hoorah that had me rarin' to go home and do what I needed to do . . . write, write, write.

---Candy Lyons

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My favorite part of retreat was being with my people, drinking at the bar, talking, catching up. I loved playing Apples to Apples late at night, then talking even later into the night with my roomie, Lisa McQ. I found Pam Regis and Kathleen Seidels' talk on the barrier in a romance was completely eyeopening for me. Loved it. Am looking forward to applying it to my current WIP.

---Marjanna Bogan

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For me, the retreat was different this year. I've been struggling for a while now. With Life, The Universe, and Everything. ("Everything" is a word which here means "writing.") So I was in a weird place this year. Out of touch. Disconnected from both WRW as well as from the writing, but then the wonderful Cathy Maxwell gave the closing talk at the end of the retreat and it was so inspirational that it had many of us in tears. I wish I had it on video and I could show you, because I know I can't do it justice, but the part that had me in tears was when she said that human beings are created with space left within us. That we are unfinished works and that we can either fill those spaces with broken pieces or we can fill them with things that make us better.

I'm tired of filling the space with broken pieces.

For reals.

Now, Cathy's send-off sparked many great conversations with my friends, but one friend in particular sat me down and we talked about how to stop shoving in those broken pieces. I quit writing months ago. I had some good reasons for that. In fact, I had some very good reasons. But after all this time what I couldn't figure out was this: If I want so much to write, why don't I do it?

Everybody says the same things they say when you need to start exercising. Put it on your calendar. Make an appointment with yourself that you can't miss. Yada yada blah blah blah. I would try those things for a while, but it never stuck because it always felt forced, to me. Artificial. Writing was my love. My art. I can't do it if it feels forced and artificial! But my friend said, "Don't. Don't write. Just sit down every day and write about what you love. Write about why you want to write a particular character, or a particular story line, or a particular setting. Write about why you want to write at all. And do it every day."

Don't laugh, but for the first time ever I made the connection between writing and exercising. See, I started getting on the treadmill in December for all the usual health reasons. But I started slow. Low speed, for short amounts of time. And I did it every day (which, in reality, translates to 5 or 6 days a week). Now, at the end of April, I'm on the treadmill most every morning for 55 minutes and in that time I get in 3.5 miles. I do it in intervals -- walk a lap, jog a lap, walk a lap, jog 2 laps -- until the time is up. And on the days that I don't do it, it feels weird. Almost like, I miss it! I miss seeing the numbers add up on my FitBit dashboard. I miss adding the entry on my Google calendar, with it's little yellow star. And yes, at first it felt forced and artificial. Like I was shoving exercise into my day. But not anymore!

Ding! Ding! Ding!

So, every day since the Retreat, I've been sitting down and writing about writing for 30 minutes. It still feels forced. Still feels a little artificial, because it doesn't just happen naturally in my day -- I have to think about it and plan for it, and make it happen. But man oh man does it feel good! And as I told my friend, seven days into it, I'm getting to the point where I'm tired about writing about writing and I can almost see myself actually writing. Like, drafting new words!

I haven't yet, I'm still taking it slow, but I can see it happening, and because I'm "forcing" it, it's going to happen sooner rather than later. One of my other friends is always saying, "The Universe rewards action." And she's right. Action is always the answer.

So what was my favorite thing about going to the WRW Retreat?

Getting back into my writing.

Boo-yeah!

---Evie Owens

April Blossoms . . . It's That Time Again



Cherry Blossom Festival in DC: RF123

 

April showers bring may flowers, Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C., and Washington Romance Writers’ In The Company of Writers Retreat. We’re all attending the retreat this weekend, so consider this our Gone Fishin’ sign this year.

Enjoy the lovely picture of the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C. and we’ll be back here same time, same place next week. Enjoy the spring weather and the flowers!

It's All in the Neck

Sometimes, when I can't get anywhere on my current manuscript, I think about the other books I want to write. Other books that are easier and more fun. Other books  that have less persnickety heroines and wittier, sexier, stronger heroes—or, better yet, none of those querulous characters. Other books that flow out of me like water over Niagara Falls. Yeah, those books. You've got some too, I bet.

On those days, you sometimes just have let the other books take over.  So here we go with one of my other books: A Southern Girl's Guide to Aging, by Sweet Tea. 

Chapter 1: It's All in the Neck

Girl, if you're a little north of fifty on the life odometer, bless your heart, and you're worried about aging, let me put your mind at ease. I have a sweet little tool box of anti-aging wrenches, hammers and screwdrivers that are as non-invasive as they are expensive. And, girl, they work, let me tell you. 

If you do nothing else about aging...if you let your arms get flabby, if you let the crows have a field day around your eyes...address this one crucial area: the NECK. Girl, a youthful appearance depends on one thing and it is not perky boobs, a wrinkle-free face, or a flat tummy. It depends on a smooth-skinned, graceful neck, free of wattles, sunspots and offending blemishes. I can show you pictures of movie stars—like Jane Fonda—who've had it all done but the neck, and let me tell you, it is NOT pretty. The skin takes on the delicate wrinkled look of an empty testicular sac, minus the hair, or for some, the voluminous ruffles and wrinkles of a Sharpei. Take your pick. Either way, I call it Scary Neck Syndrome (SNC).

So, what's a girl to do? Why, accessorize of course! I favor the chunky necklaces worn by that 70s fashion maven Wilma Flintstone. You're looking for something the size of an Easter eggs or maybe dessert plates in an array of festive colors. Unfortunately, chunky jewelry is often heavy. Do not be tempted to substitute a scarf or a clergyman's collar. It is dead giveaway and you'll look like the Mummy's Revenge. Just look at pictures of Mary Tyler Moore, bless her heart.

No, my dear, beauty and youth are not for the weak; they are for the sneaky. Here's another favorite neck camoflager: the neck rings of the Kayan Lahwi women of Africa. The metallic rings hid SNS while elongating your neck to swan-like heights. A side benefit of this accessory is the wonders it'll do for your posture.

Distraction is the screwdriver in my tool box. Send the eye elsewhere. How about Peoria! This next trick only works if you still have or recently installed a perky bustline. Try the pendant between the breast tool. Use a pendant the size and glitza-hertz of the Hope Diamond to draw attention away from SNS. If, however, you haven't elevated your bust, then don't try this one without professional help.

I suggest you have Willamette at the Dorne Corset Shop in Silver Spring repackage your buxom beauties with a lacy, steel-reinforced, aerodynamic  Büstenhalter. I kid-you-not, she can stuff some that extra stuff under your arms and Viola! a slimmer, shapelier you in moments. Of course, you can't put your arms down, but as my grandmamma always said, "Honey-chile, youth and beauty are not for sissies." You've got to be tough to appear soft, supple and young.

 
And, while we're on the subject of your décolleté, let's be honest... let's let it all hang out here between us girls. (Bless our hearts.) Are these now pendulous appendages the most disappointing set of Christmas toys you ever got?  I mean, they were great from 16 to 38—show a little ta-ta and the world was your oyster. But then, the earth's gravitation pull kicked in.

Now I'm a smart cookie and very strategic. I saw the writing on the wall whenever I visited my great aunts with their pillowy and voluminous softness. Early on I started doing those pec exercises for "a little extra lift" as my aerobics teacher would say. Twenty years and one million pec exercises later, I can tell you it was a waste of time. My once-enviable cleavage has sunk to an all time low and that brings me to...

Chapter 2. Have your 36 Bs become 50 longs?

Stay tuned for additional installments of A Southern Girl's Guide to Aging when I succumb to distraction and need a break...bless my heart.

Bitten By The Writing Bug

This week the Rockville 8 welcomes back Michelle Monkou, one of the founding members of our critique group! We can't have her back for good, she has too many deadlines hanging over her head, but we've got her this week for a guest blog and we'll take her any way we can get her!

Look for her newest release, Carnival Temptress (The Revelers Series), on Kindle and Nook now for just 99 cents.

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I recently talked to a friend who shared three things (people, ideas, concepts) that make her unconditionally happy. I gave myself the task of discovering my three things. When I came to the unconditional part, I’d back away and head for another item. Almost 24 hours later, I realized one of those things never left the picture – WRITING.

Writing is the condition that has been in my blood since early days of childhood where I started with my avid love for books. Reading stories led to writing stories. Once bitten by the bug (but, I truly believe that it’s part of my DNA), writing flowed through my entire body, energizing and adding its own nutrients.

There are occasional viral attacks, like envy, jealousy, and wrath, which threaten to destroy the writing condition. Regardless of the vices, resulting Writer’s angst can eat away at the good cells and take over with zombie-like effect. Who wants to live life as an empty shell of a writer?

Writing is expression, communication, living.

It is freedom.

There is a big difference between choosing to put aside writing and someone or something preventing or stripping away one’s ability to write. If the latter is the case, then the writer needs to fight like hell to be the sole decision maker about their calling.

Writing, for me, is a deep-seated desire.  It’s a need to write with no guarantee of the outcome. It’s an experience that heads me off to unfamiliar, uncharted waters. Although the ground under my feet may rumble and shake with uncertainty and insecurity, there is pure simple joy in writing.

What is your unconditional joy? Share your happiness with me and a lucky commenter will receive a copy of my book, Racing Hearts (Harlequin Kimani).

–Michelle Monkou