Lessons Learned from the Movies Series: Part 3 by Fay Lamb

Our task as writers is to engage our readers, right? One of the ways we do that is to include the golden element: conflict! Writer and acquisitions editor Fay Lamb is back today to share some helpful tips on including conflict in your fiction. Enjoy!

The Cry for Conflict, Conflict, Conflict

by Fay Lamb

There’s a reason we authors hear the word conflict over and over. Teachers of creative writing shout it from the rooftops: “Conflict. Conflict. Conflict.” Yet so many authors fail to heed this wisdom.

“I go to movies and read books to relax. I don’t need conflict in my life.”

Oh, yeah? Take a look at the movies and books being watched and read. Whether the audience or the reader realizes it, they are loaded with conflict. Name a bestselling novel or a blockbuster movie, and anyone whose read or seen them can tell you about the conflict.

Let’s look at a sweet little love story like Sleepless in Seattle. That’s just about two people falling in love, right? No conflict there. Look again. Meg Ryan’s character thinks her boyfriend is perfect for her. Tom Hanks’ character misses his wife. He’s not looking for another girl. Enter Jonah and the pseudo-doctor on the radio. Enter conflict. These two individuals, minding their own business, going through life, thinking they are happy, or at least coping, are suddenly hit with conflict. Hanks begins to think about moving on after his wife’s death, and he begins looking for someone to date. Meg is drawn toward the man she hears on the radio, and from there forward, their lives are never the same. They’ve been thrust into conflict.

Conflict makes the literary world go around and around. When the conflict is resolved, the story is over.

Andrew is an ex-master thief. He’s getting back into his old life of crime because Hannah, the woman he loves, needs chemotherapy neither can afford. Can you imagine the conflict that could be born from this plot? First of all, Hannah tells him if he returns to his thieving ways, for whatever reason, the next time he’ll see her is at her funeral. What a choice? Watch her die or wonder where she’s gone to die. Add another obstacle to Andrew’s goal. Detective Donovan has been on Andrew’s trail since he left the petty street crime and claimed the title of master thief, but Andrew’s never been caught. Donovan’s come close to nabbing him a few times, and now he’s dogging Andrew’s every step.

Andrew has to now factor Donovan into his scheme.

Every stumbling block toward your character’s goal gives the author what s/he needs to keep his/her story going: Conflict. Conflict. Conflict.

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Fay Lamb works as an acquisition/copyeditor for Pelican Book Group (White Rose Publishing and Harbourlight Books), offers her services as a freelance editor, and is an author of Christian romance and romantic suspense. Her emotionally charged stories remind the reader that God is always in the details. Because of Me, her debut romantic suspense novel is soon to be released by Treble Heart Books/Mountainview Publishing. Fay has a passion for working with and encouraging fellow writers. As a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), she co-moderates the large Scribes’ Critique Group and manages the smaller Scribes’ critique groups. For her efforts, she was the recipient of the ACFW Members Service Award in 2010. In 2012, Fay was also elected to serve as secretary on ACFW’s Operating Board. Fay and her husband, Marc, reside in Titusville, Florida, where multi-generations of their families have lived. The legacy continues with their two married sons and five grandchildren.

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Not your typical Christian fiction.


Michael’s fiancée, Issie Putnam, was brutally attacked and Michael was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Now he’s home to set things right.


Two people stand in his way: Issie’s son, Cole, and a madman.


Can Michael learn to love the child Issie holds so close to her heart and protect him from the man who took everything from Michael so long ago?

Because of Me is available through all fine book retailers, Amazon, and Mountainview Publishing, a division of Treble Heart Books.

Lessons Learned from the Movies Series: Part 2 by Fay Lamb

If you're a fiction writer, I imagine you love story. And if you love story, I'm guessing you love good movies. Today, Fay Lamb is back for her second installment on story craft lessons she learned from movies. Enjoy! 

Scenes to Remember: 

Motivating Your Character

by Fay Lamb

Lots of people aimlessly roam around in life, bouncing from one opportunity to the next. Sometimes they hit pay dirt by accident. Most times, they wander around accomplishing nothing.

An author cannot afford to allow his lead character to drift for one single moment. In movies, as in novels, each scene must link to the next scene then the next to build to the conclusion of the story. Character motivation is the link to each scene.

In the movie August Rush, the little hero is on a journey to find his parents. He’s actually in tune with the One who directs our steps, and he knows that somewhere in the world outside the orphanage where he resides, he has a mother and a father. His goal throughout the story is to find his parents. He takes the first step by leaving the orphanage, and his journey is detoured along the way, but in each scene he moves closer to his goal.

Every lead character in your novel must have a clear goal, and each scene for that lead character must move him one step closer to his goal.

It isn’t a big enough goal for ex-master thief, Andrew, to want to rob the owner of the most magnificent diamond in the world if Andrew doesn’t have something significant pushing him toward that goal. And since jewel thieves aren’t the likeliest of heroic figures, that goal must be something the reader can sympathize with, like say, the girl he loves, Hannah, the one he gave up the life of crime for is dying.

While he lived pretty well as a master thief, when he denounced his old ways and gave back ten-fold to those he stole from, he definitely doesn’t have the money to help her now. With that added incentive, right or wrong, Andrew moves forward and he brings the reader with him. They are marching right alongside him—willing to get caught with him, if that’s what it takes to get Hannah the treatment she needs. All the while, the reader is looking for a way for Andrew to help Hannah without taking the wrong course.

Every character needs to be motivated by something. The larger the goal, the larger the scene, the greater the setbacks for the character, and the better the read for those wanting to see a character reach his goal.

~~~~~

Fay Lamb works as an acquisition/copyeditor for Pelican Book Group (White Rose Publishing and Harbourlight Books), offers her services as a freelance editor, and is an author of Christian romance and romantic suspense. Her emotionally charged stories remind the reader that God is always in the details. Because of Me, her debut romantic suspense novel is soon to be released by Treble Heart Books/Mountainview Publishing. Fay has a passion for working with and encouraging fellow writers. As a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), she co-moderates the large Scribes’ Critique Group and manages the smaller Scribes’ critique groups. For her efforts, she was the recipient of the ACFW Members Service Award in 2010. In 2012, Fay was also elected to serve as secretary on ACFW’s Operating Board. Fay and her husband, Marc, reside in Titusville, Florida, where multi-generations of their families have lived. The legacy continues with their two married sons and five grandchildren.


~~~~~

Not your typical Christian fiction.


Michael’s fiancée, Issie Putnam, was brutally attacked and Michael was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Now he’s home to set things right.


Two people stand in his way: Issie’s son, Cole, and a madman.


Can Michael learn to love the child Issie holds so close to her heart and protect him from the man who took everything from Michael so long ago?

Because of Me is available through all fine book retailers, Amazon, and Mountainview Publishing, a division of Treble Heart Books.

Lessons Learned from the Movies Series: Part 1 by Fay Lamb

Hey everyone, Annette here. This month we're in for a treat as one of my co-workers at Pelican Book Group is here to share a series on what she learned from the movies. Let's start at the top with the Oscars, shall we? Enjoy this first installment!

Give Your Characters a Role 

that Screams “Oscar!”

by Fay Lamb

As with movie writing, it is important for authors to realize every character has a part to play. Every scene may have a different lead character—the one with the most to win or lose in that scene. Even in movies such as Forrest Gump, Forrest may be the movie’s lead character, but there are scenes when Jenny has the most to win or lose.

Just as a director will outline the scene, an author must do the same, looking through the wide-angle lens of his/her imagination to get the stage perfectly in frame and the action just right before s/he can bellow, “Cut!” Between the times the author slams the clip down on the scene board up until the announcement that the scene is over, a few techniques must be included in the directing:

1. The lead character must be clearly announced in the first paragraph, or at least by the end of the second paragraph. If more than one character is in the scene, the lead character gets top billing. If it’s Andrew’s scene, don’t mention Hannah first. Establish that Andrew is the lead or point-of-view character by placing him first in the action. Then channel all thoughts, sensory details, and emotions through Andrew.

2. Lead characters do not like mundane tasks in a scene. Make his part come alive with something interesting. Andrew and Hannah sitting on a couch talking about the day’s events won’t earn Andrew an Oscar. However, Andrew and Hannah sitting on a couch arguing about a jewel heist Andrew is planning, well, that will garner the reader’s attention. Andrew’s Oscar might be within reach. There is something Andrew wants and the reader thinks she knows what it is: jewels.

3. In order to cinch the Oscar, though, a leading character must be given the opportunity to portray his range of emotions. Andrew has the reader’s attention during the jewel heist discussion, but simply talking about a heist isn’t enough. We need to see Andrew’s emotional state, and his reasoning behind this planned heist. Robbery is a tricky business. An author can choose from a variety of emotions: exuberance, fear, guilt, self-righteousness, worry, etc. Two elements can bring out the Oscar-winning performance for Andrew: internal and external conflict. Emotions abound in conflict. Andrew is sure to put on a show if Hannah doesn’t want him to take the risk, but Andrew knows he must. They need the money for Hannah’s chemotherapy, and they’ve exhausted all other avenues. He’s walked the straight and narrow for her, and look where his retirement from a life of crime has placed him—into a position where he cannot help the woman he loves.

4. Oscar-winning performances also come with a “wow” factor. Those factors don’t just come at the end of the movie when collective breaths are released. They occur throughout the story where little by little, the audience is pulled forward in their seats, knees on elbows, chins resting on hands, waiting for the shoe to drop. So it is with a novel. Each leading character must be allowed to put on a performance that takes his reader into the next chapter where he or another character may shine. Andrew has made up his mind. He’s going back into his life as a master thief, if only to save Hannah’s life. There’s nothing else he can do. Then Hannah drops another conflict on him. “I’d rather die than see you go back to that life. Either we find another way, or I walk out and you’ll never see me again until my funeral.” At this pronouncement, Hannah leaves the scene, and Andrew falls to his knees, raising an angry voice to God. “Why? Why did you lead me out of that life only to let me watch her die because I can’t give her what I used to be able to provide?”

Hannah could win a supporting actress in this scene, put Andrew is the lead because he has the most to win or lose. He could lose his freedom, maybe even his life, by returning to his old ways, but whether or not he goes through with his plan, he’s going to lose Hannah. The question for Andrew is, does he do the heist and save her life or does he sit back and lose her—permanently.

Establishing point of view at the beginning of a scene and carrying it through and allowing a character to put on the performance of his life with each new challenge is part of the building of a truly great story. Once those elements are included, the author can sit back in his or her chair and call out, “That’s a take!”

~~~~~

Fay Lamb works as an acquisition/copyeditor for Pelican Book Group (White Rose Publishing and Harbourlight Books), offers her services as a freelance editor, and is an author of Christian romance and romantic suspense. Her emotionally charged stories remind the reader that God is always in the details. Because of Me, her debut romantic suspense novel is soon to be released by Treble Heart Books/Mountainview Publishing. Fay has a passion for working with and encouraging fellow writers. As a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), she co-moderates the large Scribes’ Critique Group and manages the smaller Scribes’ critique groups. For her efforts, she was the recipient of the ACFW Members Service Award in 2010. In 2012, Fay was also elected to serve as secretary on ACFW’s Operating Board. Fay and her husband, Marc, reside in Titusville, Florida, where multi-generations of their families have lived. The legacy continues with their two married sons and five grandchildren.

~~~~~


Not your typical Christian fiction.


Michael’s fiancée, Issie Putnam, was brutally attacked and Michael was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Now he’s home to set things right.


Two people stand in his way: Issie’s son, Cole, and a madman.


Can Michael learn to love the child Issie holds so close to her heart and protect him from the man who took everything from Michael so long ago?

Because of Me is available through all fine book retailers, Amazon, and Mountainview Publishing, a division of Treble Heart Books.