Keeping an Ace up Your Sleeve by Annette M. Irby

Ace up a Sleeve*

I don’t gamble and I haven’t visited any casinos, but here’s some advice for my Christian writing friends: always keep a few aces up your sleeves. 

When you’re working out the meat of your novel, whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, always keep a few things/ideas/plans in reserve. Then, pull them out when you need them:

* conflicts—it’s important to find balance with conflict and tension in your novel. You don’t want to overwhelm the reader so they give up. Keep a list of possible conflicts you could add as your story unfolds. You may not use all of them, have them on hand just in case.

* plot elements—when you’re wrapping up one situation, have another one brewing. Introduce it early enough so that it can become central when the earlier plot threads are resolved.

* characters—feel free to introduce new characters as your story develops. Always be purposeful and intentional, but a new character can enliven a story.

* plot twists—ask yourself: what is my reader expecting? How can I turn that expectation and surprise them?

* layers—you can add new layers at any time to both characterization and plot.

If your ideas have run dry, it may be time to stop writing and instead brainstorm some of the elements above. Then, you'll have lists to draw from to problem solve.

So, how about it? Shall I deal you in?

Your turn: What are some story elements you keep for those just-in-case scenarios of the writing process?

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Finding Love on Bainbridge Island

Finding Love on Bainbridge Island, Washington

Neither of them is ready for a relationship, but love may not give them an out.

Jenna-Shea Brown considers herself a broken therapist. Years ago, she witnessed something that caused PTSD. She can’t let her boss or her patients know about her battle. Who would want to trust her to help them, when she can’t help herself? She’s finally able to find a fresh start in her family’s beach cabin, but the renovations aren’t complete. Her parents have hired her ex-boyfriend to finalize them, but his negligence led to her being in the wrong place at the wrong time all those years ago. 

Liam Barrett is trying to prove he’s nothing like his deadbeat dad. He’s working hard, yet still failing. Adrenaline and adventure offer him a diversion, but maybe he can’t escape his genes. He’d like to make things right with Shea, but he’s unsure if she’ll forgive him. Meanwhile, he’s challenged to forgive his father. He’s also worried about Shea and all these episodes she won’t explain. Now that they’re back in close proximity, he’s falling for her again. But can anything heal the past?

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Annette M. Irby

Annette M. Irby has been writing since her teen years when she sat pounding out stories on a vintage typewriter just for fun. Since then, she’s joined Christian writing groups and launched blogs so she could share the joy of writing. In her off hours, she enjoys gardening, photography, and music. She lives with her husband and family in the Pacific Northwest.

Learn more here on her Seriously Write Page.

Links to connect with Annette:

Website: www.AnnetteIrby.com

Twitter: @AnnetteMIrby

Facebook Reader Friends Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/252272708574760

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/annette-m-irby or @AnnetteMIrby

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/annette_m_irby.com   

Book Review Blog: www.annetteirbyreviews.blogspot.com

* Ace/Sleeve photo credit: Pixabay

** Author Photo credit: Sarah Irby at Irby Photos

Are You Feelin' Me: Part Two by Ocieanna Fleiss

Raise your hand if you're getting a lot out of Ocieanna's posts! I am. We McCritters always do. *grin* So, as promised, here's the second installment of her article on eliciting an emotional response from your readers. Enjoy!

Are You Feelin' Me
Fire Up Emotions for Stronger Stories (Part Two)
by Ocieanna Fleiss

Know Your Characters

Another movie that exemplifies good use of emotions is Sense and Sensibility. Throughout the film, we understand the glaring difference between the two heroines. When stoic Eleanor discovers her beloved is engaged to another, she hides her feelings behind a mask of stalwart cheerfulness. When her ultra-emotional sister is jilted, on the other hand, she falls apart in fits of tears and despair. The screenwriter knew how these two would react to similar situations. How well do you know your characters?

Takeaway: Look around to uncover different ways folks operate. Watch how your spouse responds to the Sunday paper getting soggy, or how the barista handles a belligerent customer who ordered soy, not 2%—and take notes.

Trauma!

You’ve seen the movie Titanic? Boy meets girl, ship meets iceberg, and …well, you know the rest. Trauma results in drama—and we’re hooked. Why? How a character reacts to disaster reveals truth about him. For instance, Tricia Goyer in her World War II novel, Arms of Deliverance, shoves her main character Mary into just such a harrowing situation. A newspaper reporter, Mary’s feisty, self-sufficient attitude lands her in a fighter plane, exhilarated to get a story. But when the plane hits danger deep within enemy territory, Mary’s insecurities and fears surface. We experience a side of Mary we would’ve never seen otherwise. 1

Takeaway: Don’t be nice to your characters. Make them struggle—and emotion will flow naturally.

It’s not easy to develop authentic emotional tension in our fiction, but it’s worth the effort. And who knows? The next time you watch a movie, you may even glean a tip or two to make it easier.

****

1. Goyer, Tricia. Arms of Deliverance: A Story of Promise. (Moody Publishers: Chicago, July 2006).

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Ocieanna Fleiss has cowritten two novels with Tricia Goyer—both for Summerside press. The most recent, Love Finds You in Victory Heights, Washington, released July, 2010. Ocieanna has also written several articles for national publications and a bi-monthy column for Northwest Christian Writers Association. Homeschool mom of four little ones, she, along with her husband, stay busy at her home in the Seattle area.

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Love Finds You in Victory Heights, Washington released in July, 2010.

The Second World War has stolen Rosalie's fiancé from her. But rather than wallow, Rosalie throws herself into her work at the Boeing plant in Victory Heights, shooting rivets into the B-17 bombers that will destroy the enemy. A local reporter dubs her Seattle's Own Rosie the Riveter, and her story lends inspiration to women across the country. While Rosalie's strong arms can bear the weight of this new responsibility, her heart cannot handle the intense feelings that begin to surface for Kenny, the handsome reporter. Fear of a second heartbreak is a powerful opponent - but will it claim victory over love?

Are You Feelin' Me by Ocieanna Fleiss

One of the trickiest parts of writing is eliciting emotion from your readers. This new series from our good friend and critique partner, Ocieanna Fleiss, provides some great tips for helping infuse those stories with emotional payout.

Are Ya Feelin’ Me?
Fire up Emotions for Stronger Stories* (Part One)
by Ocieanna Fleiss

We writers can learn a lot from movies. Take the two DVDs I watched recently. The first, Fantastic Four, was cartoonish, verging on outlandish, but I couldn’t stop watching (past bedtime even!). The characters’ universal emotions—loneliness, insecurity, abandonment, fear—captured me.

I snoozed through the second Mr. and Mrs. Smith—boring! Despite the fast-paced suspense and A-list actors, the characters’ lackluster relationship left me uninterested, so their predicaments didn’t matter.

What can we do to prevent such audience disconnection? Stirring our readers’ fear, anxiety, compassion, empathy, or joy not only wards off boredom—it keeps ‘em reading. Follow these pointers to tap into those deepest emotions.

What’s at Stake?

In You’ve Got Mail, when Kathleen Kelly’s children’s bookstore goes out of business, my eyes moisten as I mourn along with her. But why?

Because it’s not just a bookstore.

By the time her competition ruthlessly runs it out of business, I’ve totally bought into why The Shop Around the Corner means so much. The aisles are filled with childhood memories of sweet times with Kathleen’s mother who has passed away. When it shuts down, it’s like “losing her all over again.” Because the emotional stakes have been established, when the “closed” sign turns for the last time, I experience Kathleen’s disappointment.

Takeaway: Build the stakes early by thinking first about what you want the emotional climax to be, and then go backwards from there.

Feel This Way

In the movie In the Name of the Father, the protagonist’s father has been imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. His fellow inmates come to love him, and when he dies, these hardened criminals each release small scraps of flaming paper from their windows, lighting the night in a heartrending memorial. Consider the power of this display versus a more obvious scene: “I miss him so much,” one inmate could’ve sobbed. “He was such a great guy.” Yuck.

Takeaway: Show don’t tell. I know. You’ve heard it before, but building a sensory scene rather than littering a story with intricately explained emotions reaps a big payoff.

Next week, more on how to elicit an emotional connection and response from your readers.

*This article appeared in Northwest Christian Author Newsletter and Fiction Fix.

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Ocieanna Fleiss has cowritten two novels with Tricia Goyer—both for Summerside press. The most recent, Love Finds You in Victory Heights, Washington, released July, 2010. Ocieanna has also written several articles for national publications and a bi-monthy column for Northwest Christian Writers Association. Homeschool mom of four little ones, she, along with her husband, stay busy at her home in the Seattle area.

~~~~~~

Love Finds You in Victory Heights, Washington released in July, 2010.

The Second World War has stolen Rosalie's fiancé from her. But rather than wallow, Rosalie throws herself into her work at the Boeing plant in Victory Heights, shooting rivets into the B-17 bombers that will destroy the enemy. A local reporter dubs her Seattle's Own Rosie the Riveter, and her story lends inspiration to women across the country. While Rosalie's strong arms can bear the weight of this new responsibility, her heart cannot handle the intense feelings that begin to surface for Kenny, the handsome reporter. Fear of a second heartbreak is a powerful opponent - but will it claim victory over love?