Internals, They're The Guts

            Yeah, kind of icky but, guts are pretty important. We’ve got a three legged cat, it gets along fine. Marne has a one-eyed dog, it’s fine. Without guts though, those two would be in trouble. Same with your story.

            Internals, (guts) are the things going on in your character’s head; thoughts, reactions, feelings. Without them your character can’t come alive. Without a live character, your story is DOA. In my opinion, internals tell the real story.

            We, as sentient beings, are always thinking and so should your characters. Even when they’re doing stuff, they should be thinking. We are. As you read this you are thinking. Some of you are thinking, “Huh, never thought about that.”

 Some, “Yeah but…”

Some, “Where’s he going with this?”

Some, “Maybe I’ll get a pizza for dinner.”

 And some, “This guy is an idiot.”

 The point is, what you were thinking would tell us something about you, if we heard your thoughts. As writers, we can use that.

            If your character is interacting with someone he finds attractive, or repulsive he is going to be thinking about that. Slip it in. Internals don’t have to be about what’s happening. often it’s more interesting if it’s not. Most interesting of all, is when a character is acting contrary to their internals. It is then they are lying to themselves.

If he is scared of the dark, daytime internals will be different from night. Your character will probably try to hide his phobia. How much fun is that sort of thing?

 If your character is a narcissist, his internals will be different from the selfless, self-deprecating hero of your story. We can use internals to make our characters unique. 

Probably the most important job of internals is keeping the reader in the loop. Only POV characters have internals. POV characters are main characters. Readers need to know why main characters do things. Internals explain that.

Readers also should be able to predict what a main character will do as a scene unfolds. Internals help readers know the character and anticipate his/her reaction. This gives your readers satisfaction when they are correct and a surprise when they are not. And when the reader is not correct, when your hero does something out of character, you will need internals to explain why.

Well, I’m at the end of the page. 

Hope you enjoyed our little chat. 

Mike

Cover Art for "Love Chosen: Book One of the Fae Dragon Chronicles"

Back of the Book Blurb:

For millennia, dragon and fae have peacefully co-existed, but the fae themselves have lived segregated and very different lives.

Now a malevolence threatens to separate them all permanently. Can a Queen's guard and a rebellious outlaw join forces to defeat this common enemy?

Tyler's touch sparks fierce desire, drawing Issie to him, but she despises his way of life and all that palace society represents. If he learns she wields majic to help the less fortunate escape the kingdom, he'll charge her with treason. Her punishment - death.

Issie is a sassy rebel who is constantly looking for ways to circumvent the conventions of their society. Tyler's head warns that she's a non-majical lower, beneath him. His heart sees by her inner strength and outer beauty. Only a binding love will lend them strength to save her life - their world.

Can either of them bend enough to trust that love?

So, this is IT!

The Cover Art for LOVE CHOSEN...

Yep, I'm ecstatic over it!

Jeannie Ruesch is the gifted artist who designed it. Smooches to her for being A-Mazing! And Double Smooches and Hugs to Crescent Moon Press for asking me what images I felt were important to the story. I have not extolled CMP's value as a publisher nearly enough... they are fabulous people to work with. Seriously. Fantastic.

The book will be available as an e-book first, at the end of March.

It will be available in print format shortly after.

So, I know I love it; but what do YOU think of the cover? 

Inspiration

As writers, we find inspiration all around us. Sometimes we find it in a news article, sometimes it happens while on a moose hunting safari, or a story comes to us while baking a cake or working in the garden.

One of my favorite things to do is spend alone time somewhere unique with my DH (which today means Darling Hubby…tomorrow it might very well mean Damn Hubby. It depends on the day…).  For our anniversary, we went to Ouray, Colorado and stayed in the Wiesbaden Spa and Hotel. It was Amazing!

And I found the setting model for one of the books in my Holy Water Warrior series.

The Vapor Caves

Aside from having quaint, Victorian style guest rooms, the hotel has its own natural hot springs and vapor caves, a private and very intimate grotto with a romantic waterfall, and a history which just   B-E-G-S a story. Case in point? Chief Ouray used to hang out at this spring; before it was a resort, the Wiesbaden was a hospital for the…er…moneyed mentally infirmed; and it has CAVES under the resort! How cool is that? Also, I’m certain it must be haunted. It just must be…

Everything about this place is comfortable, old, serene. This morning, as my DH and I sat in the hot springs, the snow and fog gave the early daylight a gloomy, surreal feeling. Two dozen ravens sat in the bare grey limbs of wintering cottonwood trees across the street and watched us. It made me think of Poe and death and ghosts…

And I realized this was the perfect place for a princess, brutalized and almost murdered by her captors before the hero saved her, this was the perfect place for her to heal and fall in love…

Do you ever have a moment when you’re hit with insight, a realization some particular thing/place/event is going into one of your books?

Happy New Year, The Sandy Contest and Writing Goals

Happy New Year!!!!

Wow. As you can tell, we've been a bit busy this holiday season. I can't believe it's been a month since any of us have blogged. I hope you and yours have enjoyed the past month.

I've decided the best way to start 2012 is to enter a writing contest or two...or three. The first one I'm checking out is The Sandy Writing Contest, put on by Crested Butte Writers. You might remember that Marne and I attended CBW conference last summer. We had a wonderful time and were impressed by the group and all that they do. They're fun, professional and organized.

You might also remember that Marne finalled in The Sandy last year. That just goes to show you they have good taste, too.  This will be my first try at The Sandy. Oh, and just for a little disclosure, I've also taken on the job as promotion goddess for CBW, so here's my pitch for the contest.

The deadline to enter is Februrary 12, 2012. Cost is $30 for members and $35 for non-members. The contest is for both published and non-published writers, which is new this year.

Check out the final judges:

Romance - Sue Grimshaw, Editor at Large & Category Specialist for Ballantine & Bantam Dell

Mainstream Adult Fiction - Kevan Lyon, Agent at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency

Suspense / Thriller / Mystery - Kat Brzozowski, Assistant Editor at Thomas Dunne Books

Fantasy / Science Fiction - James Frenkel, Editor at Tor / Forge

Children's & YA - Mary Kole, Agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency

You can enter by going to their website: http://www.crestedbuttewriters.org/

Now for my goals - well I really only have one writing goal - finish WIP by mid-year - final edits and all. I want this thing polished and ready for the round tables at RMFW's Colorado Gold conference in September. Beyond that, well who knows. My mind is already percolating a few ideas for the next project. 

Are you planning on entering any contests in the next few months? If so, which ones? What are your goals for 2012. 

Here's to a marvelous, stupendous, tremendous 2012. May all your dreams come true and may your manuscript land on the right desk at the right time. 

Vicki 

Awkward? Ya think?

    Ian, behind Max, hand on the hilt of his sword and the Kaltenschnees, flanking their brother, weapons at the ready, left no doubt as to the serious nature of the conflict.

    The above sentence was tagged as awkward by one of my critique partners. I have no argument with that. My only question is; who wrote it? I didn’t write it. For one thing my attention span isn’t long enough. It had to be an anti-muse.

    Just because nobody has ever seen an anti-muse doesn’t mean they aren’t real. Antis are like black holes; they can’t be observed directly but we know they exist by their effect on other things. Black holes bend light making it appear an object is light-years from its actual position. Antis bend thought and take your story light years from where it should be. Black holes can perturb orbits, sometimes sending objects careening off into inter-galactic space. Anti-muses perturb plots sending them off... Young black holes suck in matter and produce gamma-ray bursts. Anti-muses suck in prose and produce awkward sentences. Lucky for us there is an anti-anti-muse thingamajigger. Unfortunately, you can’t buy an anti-anti-muse thingamajigger. You have to find one or form one. They are called critique groups. A good crit group can uncover the work of the anti-muses.

    Crit groups come in many shapes and sizes. Online and face-to-face, juried and open. Some you stand up and read your thing. Others you hand out pages. Still others you submit pages to be taken home and discussed the following week. You could go cross-eyed trying to think it through and decide which is best. You just have to get out there and give one a try. If it doesn’t work, try another.

    Finding groups can be a problem, but they are out there. Some are sponsored by writing groups like, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. You should be a part of a larger writing group anyway so join something and see what they have to offer. Web-sites geared toward writing often have something set up. If not actual crit groups, an area where you can post your work for review. You could try the library, put a note on their bulletin board. You can find them with a little effort.

    Another option is building one from scratch. You can form a group online but I prefer face-to-face. This requires more work but it will be good for you. Trust me. You will have to put yourself out there, make friends and acquaintances, tell people you write, ask people to read your stuff. You’ll have to get out of the house, go to meetings, events, write at the library or a coffee shop. You’ll have to introduce yourself as a writer.

    I heard a collective gasp. I suspect writers may be more introverted as a group than the general populace. We hide in our little corner with our characters putting on our puppet show for nobody. Time to stop it. Anti-muses love this environment. Get out there, get in a crit group, meet new people, show your work, learn, listen, laugh. It’ll be fun.

    I’ll end with a few guidelines for crit groups. You can make a whole bunch of rules and have someone be the sheriff but I prefer things a little more relaxed.

    First, try to give as much positive feedback as you can. People learn from their mistakes but they also learn from success. Tell them what worked so they can keep doing it.
    Be honest. Don’t gloss over something in your crit partner’s work that you think is a real problem. Explain what’s not working and why, also offer a possible solution. If you are on the other end, relax and think about what you are being told.
    Allow for questions and brainstorming. Many groups don’t allow the writer to speak up during the critique because there just isn’t time. Our group is smaller. We have time. So we brainstorm if we need to. I like it better that way. 

    One note of caution. It’s your story and sometimes you have to disregard the advice of your crit partners. Do so if you must but do so at your peril.

    I think I’ll do another crit group blog in a week or so. I didn’t cover everything I wanted.

Go have fun, Mike