Before I became the Operations Manager for My Book Therapy
in June 2017, I’d spent the previous nineteen years owning and operating my in-home
childcare program. While working as an early childhood educator, one of the
children’s most common questions was, “Why?”
Sound familiar? I’m sure if you’ve been around a child for
any length of time, that question popped up.
Children ask this question constantly because they are sponges,
soaking up all kinds of information. If they’re given one answer, chances are
they’ll continue asking why to find another. Sure, it can be annoying, but it’s
how they learn. Many times I’d ask them why and they’d usually tell me
"because."
One of the best bits of writing advice came from a workshop I attended years ago at an ACFW conference taught by Susan May Warren and Rachel Hauck. Each attendant had been given an envelope with a cutout letter Y inside to remind us of the importance of asking “Why?”
Asking our characters "Why?" is one of the best ways to get to the core of their identities, dark moment stories, and motivations for their actions and behaviors. Learning their responses enables us to understand how to craft their stories.
Think about characters from your favorite books and movies. Why do they act in a certain way? Usually, their motivation stems from a specific event in their past, which is what Susie May Warren calls a “dark moment story.”
Recently, I rewatched Leap Year and The Proposal, even thought I’ve seen them half a dozen times. What can I say? I love Matthew Goode's accent and Ryan Reynolds’ sense of humor.
In Leap Year, Anna, the heroine, likes to have a plan in place and know where she is going through life.
Why?
While she was growing up, her father was a
fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy who was always on the lookout for the
next big idea. His lack of structure and gainful employment had Anna working
after school in order to keep their house, which ended up being repossessed on
Christmas Eve. That trauma affected the decisions she made as an adult.
In The Proposal,
the heroine Margaret works hard, demands much, and has very little fun.
Why?
She'd lost her parents when she was a teenager and had
forgotten what it was like to have a family to love. Her work became her
purpose in life, so she demanded the same from her staff.
As you continue to get to know your characters, keep asking
'why' to learn their story goals and figure out their motivations for wanting
them. That will allow you to put believable obstacles in place to keep them
from achieving their goals.
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In my current novel, Season
of Hope, Jake wants to create a fatigues to farming program.
Why?
Because his best friend, a wounded warrior, lost his hope
and took his life. Jake, a former Marine, wants to teach veterans with
disabilities how to farm so they can create their own small businesses and have
a sense of hope and a purpose for their lives. Additionally, he feels
responsible for being the reason his youngest brother is estranged from the
family, so he hopes the program will bring his youngest brother back home.
So, before you begin your next book, take the time to ask
your characters "why." This
exercise will enable you to:
- get to know them.
- create strong goals and motivations.
- build in realistic obstacles.
- help maintain consistency with their character.
- help them to change and grow in order to do something at the end they hadn't been able to do at the beginning.
By doing so, you will have
crafted compelling characters with a solid story that keeps your reader turning
pages.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Season of
Hope, click here: Season
of Hope preview
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Bio: Heart, home, and faith have always been important to Lisa Jordan, so writing stories with those elements come naturally. Represented by Rachelle Gardner, Lisa is a Carol award-winning author for Love Inspired, writing contemporary Christian romances that promise hope and happily ever after. She is the Operations Manager for My Book Therapy. Happily married to her own real-life hero for thirty years, Lisa and her husband have two grown sons. When she isn’t writing, Lisa enjoys family time, kayaking, good books, and creating with words, photos, and fibers, especially with friends. Visit her at lisajordanbooks.com.
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