How to Write a Brilliant Novel: The Easy Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Story (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (7 page)

Y
in
the
Road
1
(WHAT
IF:
WILL
SALLY’S
HUSBAND
BE
ANGRY
WITH
HER
IF
SHE
CALLS
HIM? WILL
SHE
LOSE
HIS
RESPECT?)

Frustration needled Sally as she returned inside to call her husband home from work to help jumpstart the car. Meanwhile, she phoned the annoyed doctor. Her husband was less than pleased with his interruption from work, and said little as he started the car. Sally and the children made it to the doctor’s office a half-hour late, but were still able to have their physicals. Sally returned home, sent the children inside, and began to finish her project.

DISAPPOINTMENT 2

Sally found that she had underestimated the amount of materials she would need. She decided she would only refinish the top and the fronts of the drawers, yet she’d revarnish the entire piece. While she was painting on the varnish, she was horrified to see her husband coming home from work. Time had slipped away, and she hadn’t put dinner on the table!

Y
2
(WHAT
IF
IT
RAINS?
WHAT
IF
SHE
PUTS
OFF
HIS
DINNER?)

Finishing her work quickly, Sally decided to run inside to fix hamburgers, leaving the dresser in the driveway, exposed to the elements.

DISAPPOINTMENT
3

Over dinner, her husband expressed concern at the cost of the project. Sally felt further discouraged when she returned outside three hours later and discovered that varnish made excellent glue for dragonfly wings. (Unexpected and plausible). Hundreds of dragonflies lay forever pinned to the surface of her beloved dresser, their legs wiggling in a horrific dance.

Y
3
(WHAT
IF
SHE
CAN’T
GET
THE
DRAGONFLIES
OFF?
WHAT
IF
SHE
HAS
JUST
WASTED
ALL THAT MONEY?)

With that image of torture in her mind, Sally went to bed . . .

HELP!

. . . Only to hear the rumble of thunder in the distance. With rain pelting the windows, and her project outside, Sally realized that she could do no more. She had failed. She would have to spend more money to fix the disaster she had created. Her husband was angry, her children’s clothes were ruined, and Sally’s frustration boiled over. Her values competed with each other: Did she choose beauty and her mother’s approval, or frugality? Did she surrender the dream of a beautiful masterpiece, and would her greatest fears of wasting money pull her under? Did she turn to the credit card, and her old ways of dealing with problems? At that moment, she wondered,
What did God want?
Would she believe the lie that she would never be the Proverbs 31 woman, capable of taking care of her home and earning the esteem of others? Or did God’s truth set her free to find her approval in Him?

OVERHAUL

The question drove her to her knees. And in the darkness, she heard God say, “Cast your burdens upon me.”
(EPIPHANY)

PERFECT ENDING

The next morning Sally discovered that the rain had washed away the dragonflies. And with the leftover varnish remover, she was able to smooth out the drops. She began to see the project with a new eye, and instead of a pristine piece of furniture, the dresser looked quaintly distressed. Not quite perfect, but beautiful it it’s own right. Sorta like Sally.

The dresser now sits in her living room, its rustic appearance fitting perfectly into her décor. And without fail, guests comment on its beauty and originality. Sally simply smiles at her dream come true.

The
End

Focus Application

Okay, you’re going to stop looking at other books and movies. Turn your focus inward. I want you to interview your character. Yes. Sit down, have a cup of coffee in hand, lock your door, and imagine your hero (or heroine) in your mind. You are the therapist. It’s time to get to the bottom of things!

Ask:

• Basic Bio
  
• Name
  
• Age
  
• Profession
  

Who are you? (Keep asking “Why?” until you get to their motivations and values.)

What would you would die for? (Noble Cause/Purpose)

What are you good at?

When the going gets tough, what do you do?

Spiritual
Epiphany

What monumental event in your past shaped your beliefs today?

What is the Lie that you believe, and what Truth will set you free?

Now let your character off the couch and take some notes.

What is his greatest fear?

What is his greatest dream?

Gathering all your information, what could be a possible Black Moment for your hero?

Look
at
all
you’re
discovering!
Isn’t
this
fun?
Let’s
keep
going!

A great hero who leaps off the page and into our hearts—Every book has to have one! Think of your favorites: William Wallace in
Braveheart
, or maybe Robin of Loxley in
Robin Hood
? Maybe it’s simpler: William Thacker, played by Hugh Grant, in
Notting Hill
. Whoever your favorite heroes are, they all have the same elements that make them heroic.

So, what are the elements of a winning hero?

Noble
– Every hero has something to fight for. As Miracle Max says in
The Princess Bride,
“What you got here that’s worth living for?” Wesley’s answer? “True Love.” Every hero should have something he believes in, something we find noble and true and worth believing in him, even when he acts like a cad to the woman he loves. Maybe it’s a secret, or a wish, or a past mistake. It could be a dream, or something he’s protecting the heroine from. But it needs to be strong enough for him to win the reader. Give your hero a Noble Cause!

Flawed
– Our hero has to be less than perfect. There’s something about him that makes him real. Maybe he has issues with recklessness, or perhaps he trusts too much and has gotten burned. Maybe he’s jaded and mean on the outside (but of course tenderhearted on the inside). Some flaw is fixable, but that makes him less than perfect.

Fearful
– Our hero has to have a fear. This fear must be deep—one that would keep him awake at night, or drive him to do stupid things, make stupid decisions. Sometimes a novel will start out with his fear being realized, and the result is so horrible we understand why he will run from it. A fear will build until the Black Moment, and make him human. The fear—and eventually his courage to face it—willcause us to love him.

No Wimps!
– A hero has to have the courage to change. We don’t like heroes that are stuck in their ways, that don’t see their need for change, who are unwilling to take up the sword and fight the battle. Why is
The Matrix
so popular? Because it’s about an ordinary guy who dared to reach out with his gut and fight for something real and better. He can be reluctant, for sure, but in the end, he has to see the greater good of going into battle for what he wants (and ultimately, for the woman he wants).

Give your hero these four qualities, putting them with a winning heroine (see matching sidebar on creating heroines!), and they’ll be loved by readers far and wide!

How
to
Create Heroines
Who Can
Take
Care
of
Themselves!
(But
they still want a good man!)

I used to hate romances. Why? Because I didn’t respect a woman who had to have a man save her. But I did respect a woman who allowed a man into her life to make her better, stronger, more noble, more complete.

Which is why, probably, all the heroines in my books are strong women: CIA agents, and K-9 Handlers, and bush pilots, and fire chiefs.

But for all the toughness of my heroine, she needs a good man. So what makes a strong heroine?

Goal
– Give her a measurable goal. Both your hero and heroine need to have a goal, but it’s essential for your heroine. She needs to be proactive, and fight for something she believes in. We want to get on board with her cause, and fight the fight with her. Making her proactive and strong makes her noble—and a winner in our book.

Confidence
– Give her a sense of self that is confident, despite her flaws. It’s easy for a heroine to have flaws—mostly because we write about ourselves, and we all have flaws. So you need to work at putting confidence into your heroine, and giving her something she’s good at, that makes us applaud her.

Fear
– Give her a fear, something realistic and based on something in her past. Don’t make it about “being single.” And make her fear deep, something the hero has to figure out, even pry out of her. Having a realistic fear is something that will create sympathy in your reader, and put her in the heroine’s shoes.

Flaw
– Give her a flaw, one that she can start to overcome because of the hero. It doesn’t have to be a huge flaw. Maybe it’s a tendency to run away from her problems, or better, a tendency to push men out of her life. As she gets to know the hero, he can help her overcome these flaws and grow stronger.

Beauty
– Give her a special kind of beauty, both inner and outer, that only the hero can see/love. Something special, that’s only hers. Maybe it’s her eyes, but also the way that she can look right through him and see what he needs. Or maybe it’s her patience. Maybe it’s her strength to see the good, or believe in the good.

These five elements will create a heroine worthy of the hero, who will fight for her heart!

Premise! What’s It All About?

So, you know what kind of story you’re going to write, and you know who it’s about. Generally, you know the Black Moment, and the Epiphany, and some of the bad “Trouble” that will happen along the way. Hopefully your story is starting to come alive, ideas poking you in the middle of the night, or scenes flashing before your eyes.

But you’re still discovering the story, so hold back, fellow writer . . . you’re nearly ready to write! The next two chapters work together to help you get to that first page, so you may need to go back and forth as you develop your story. But the first thing you need to know is: What is your story about?

Think back to when we were packing for our writing journey. What are you going to take? Kind of hard to know whether to pack a swimsuit or a ski outfit if you don’t know where you’re going. Are you hiking the Himalayas? Going on a beach vacation in Cancun? Skiing in Vermont? How about a canoe trip in Minnesota?

Before you take your first step, you need to know what your journey is going to look like. And that means knowing your premise.

A
premise
is
a
two
to
five sentence
blurb
of
your
story.
It’s zeroing
in
on
the
most
important elements
of
your
book:
the stakes,
the
fears,
the
dreams,
the theme,
the
plot,
and
the
main players.

You’ll use your premise to grab an editor’s attention in your query letter or to pitch your book at a conference. But for now, you’ll paste a copy of your premise above your computer. This will be a guidepost for your journey, so you want to make the premise compelling, exciting, and interesting.

The
premise
boils
down
to
the
most
important
aspects
of
your
story,
the
biggest
interest catcher—all in one short paragraph.

Here's a sample premise from my book
Happily Ever After
:

Mona Reynolds longs for two things:forgiveness, and Jonah, the hero from her favorite book. But getting either is about as likely as her father rising from the
dead.

Tells you a lot, right? (I hope!) It tells you that Mona likes to read, that her father died, and that there's no way she's going to be forgiven. The theme of the book is forgiveness, and the story is about Mona getting her dream man. (That's a plug to read
Happily Ever After
, if you didn't recognize it!) The premise tells the editor just what the conflicts are, and what the book’s theme is.

Here's the premise from
Tying the Knot
. If you aren't familiar with either of these books, go to my Web site (www.susanmaywarren.com). There are premises and first chapters there, under the “writing” link.

Noah Standing Bear has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. But when he sees a woman gunned down, can he help her find healing? Worse, when it happens again, what will it cost him to save her?

And here's the premise from
The Sovereign’s Daughter
: