Monday, November 24, 2014

Writers' Book Review: Crafting the Character Arc by Jennie Jarvis

For those of you that don't know, I'm also a book reviewer. I review about 400 romance books a year on my sister blog, Smitten with Reading...which normally is enough to feed my need to share my love of books. But sometimes as a writer, I come across amazing craft/non-fiction research books that I may share on here. So, if you aren't a writer, just excuse this blog post. 

(Oh, but if you are one of my readers, I'd love it if you would leave reviews my books. And did you see? Amazon has new author pages. Please, go over there and favorite me as one of your authors so you get the latest emails about my new releases from Amazon.)

Crafting the Character Arc 
Author: Jennie Jarvis
My Rating: A


Story Overview:
Many writers believe once they have their basic plot points in place, their stories are destined to succeed. But many narratives fall flat between those plot points and lose their audience before the big finish. Engaging the audience and moving the story forward in every scene is the responsibility of the characters, not the plot. But while many books on the craft of writing state that characters need to be three dimensional and change, a beginning writer isn’t always sure how to turn these rather abstract ideas into concrete craft on the page.


Crafting the Character Arc offers a practical guide to character creation and development by expanding upon the concept of the character arc and creating a step-by-step guide for writers to ensure that their characters are dynamic and engaging. Using narrative examples from multiple platforms, including novels, films and games, this is the essential guide for helping writers create an active and well-defined character arc.


Crafting The Character Arc is structured in three main parts.


Part One covers the more traditional, basic approach to creating character, including personality traits, depth, secrets, goals versus emotional needs, active versus reactive protagonists, and dramatic functions.


Part Two introduces the Major Dramatic Curve, a detailed pictorial representation of a character arc and its major elements: place of rest, inciting incident, rising action, crisis point, climax and falling action/resolution.
Part Three offers practical applications of the Major Dramatic Curve. The writer is given guidance for using the curve to create a dynamic and engaging narrative work. Lastly, some variations in using the Major Dramatic Curve are explored and exceptions to the rules are addressed.


Character Arcs are a critical part of every story making this guide applicable to multiple mediums: novels, short stories, films, TV, games, plays, and Web series.


My Review:

As a obsessive reader, a lot of my writing is instinctual. I've never taken fiction or creative writing courses and definitely don't have any formal training to do what I do on a daily basis...at all. That's fine, until the book isn't working. The nice thing about those instincts is that I can usually tell when the book isn't working, too. What I can't do a lot of the time is figure out how to fix it. That's where writing craft books come in. But I'll be honest, books about writing beats or acts sound all well and good, but for me, when it comes down to my writing...I'm kind of baffled about how to apply those ideas to my books. Instinct vs. knowledge...not so easy in practical application. 

Which is why when it comes to finding a book like this one, I'm thrilled. This book is so easy to understand. EVEN I can read it and apply it to my writing. Jennie Jarvis has done an amazing job breaking down the writing process (i.e. those beats/acts) into a dramatic curve that works and is easily understandable. She uses a wide range of examples...from movies, to TV shows, to video games to show how the curve works and how to apply it to your work in progress. 

The dramatic curve that she employs (you can see the diagram of it on the cover up there) is made up of seven elements and she breaks down what needs to happen in each of those elements to get your book/story to where it needs to be. She illustrates the ideas so well through movies like Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, and even the not-so-great classics like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. She even shows how to build that same plot structure within the book for sub-plots. 

It's an incredibly readable book (I read it in a day and a half and am known for never finishing non-fiction books, so that's saying something for me.) She talks about how to develop characters and push them outside their boundaries. She has some great points about protagonists vs. antagonists and how to create conflict within relationships. And as a romance writer, I really liked the point that the antagonist can actually be either your hero or heroine...what a completely revolutionary idea...at least to me where I've always considered the antagonist to be the bad guy. 

The book employs some great writing techniques and I spent the weekend running all my current works-in-progress through the plotting technique the book illustrates with very positive results. 

I definitely recommend this book!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

This has already been a good week...

Hello, all!

Normally, I'm happiest when my word counts are high and the story is flowing. That is NOT this week. LOL! In fact, I'm stuck on my current work-in-progress (WIP), Right By Your Side.

But's that's okay. It happens and then I have to take time to sit back and figure out WHY I'm having an issue. In the end, that usually means that the book will be stronger. It's simply part of the process.

But in the meantime, I am still moving forward on a ton of different projects. Right now, it's looking like I will have 4 releases in the first 4 months of 2015. Whoa, but yay! It just means I am working on a TON of different projects at once. 

And this week, two of those are headed out to my beta readers. JUSTIN (book #1 in the Male Model Chronicles) went out today. And then I hope to send out BROKEN CONTROL (my first erotic romance) out for a second round of betas tomorrow or Friday. 

I also am beginning to get cover proofs for JUSTIN. I can't wait to show y'all.  Maybe I'll have a cover reveal for it soon, because that book will be the first one out in 2015.

If you don't know, the premise of that series is based on Shauna Kruse and her gorgeous male photography that she does with Kruse Images and Photography. All the heroes are real male models, but I've fictionalized their lives. BUT the cover designer for the series is ALSO a male model (and will be the hero in book #3), Joshua Scott Brown. It's been such a fun project all the way around and I'm hoping it will be hugely successful and help promote all of us involved through fun contemporary romances!
The order of the books so far are (if you click their names, you can go see the guys' facebook pages):
1. Justin
2. Lance
3. Joshua

JustinLance
Joshua
Shauna w/ Lance

All the photos are Shauna's work, except the one of her and I think that's probably Lance's selfie skill at work there. ;)

If you haven't heard, here is the story description for JUSTIN:
(m/f contemporary romance)
coming Dec/Jan
Tara Malone is having one of those lives. Born to Oscar award-winning actor, Anthony Malone, and model-famous beauty, Veronica Scott, she should have it made. But her curvy figure and out-of-control frizzy red hair are just the start of her many, many issues. Now to make matters worse, she’s started out her week by running over model, Justin James, with her car. She had a lot of fantasies about the cover model, but never did any of them include vehicular assault.

Justin James doesn’t have time for two broken wrists, but neither does his over-achieving family. He can’t open up his fridge or unzip his fly without excruciating pain and no one else has the time to help him. Tara already shot him down at the accident scene, but maybe he can work this so that the curvy bombshell has a reason to hang around for a bit. He’s not above using guilt if it means he gets to know her better.

The first in a new series of novellas inspired by Shauna Kruse’s photography and her beautiful male models.

The Male Model Chronicles.



Does it sound fun? I had so much fun writing it and am really pleased with how it turned out.

smiles,
Christi

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Whew, that was harder than I expected...NEW BLOG!

Hey, everyone! Wow. I have a confession to make....

I. SUCK. AT. TECHNOLOGY.

hmm, maybe he could come help me!

I've had my author blog for about 3 years now on Wordpress. And I finally gave up. Wordpress and I do not get along. In the last three months, it seemed like every time I got onto there to do a minor blog post, it was screwed up. So then I'd spend the next 2 hours sorting through why it wasn't working right. 

I give up. 

I have been blogging on blogger for almost 10 years. It works for me. I understand it. I can just get on and blog and then I'll have more time to WRITE. 

So welcome to my new blogger author website!!

You should be able to find me two ways. Either through my old web address:
Christi-Snow.com
or
Christi-Snow.blogspot.com

Either works.

I'm hoping now that I will actually blog more. I should. It's also more streamlined so maybe you'll be able to find things easier. 

Let me know what you think and if there's something you want to see, tell me and I'll see what I can do to accommodate you! I hope you'll have fun exploring the new tabs. 

In the meantime, here's a pretty for you...
Meet Justin:

I'm starting a new series called the Male Model Chronicles. Justin's is the first book, inspired by Shauna Kruse's amazing photography and models. These are shorter books (around 25-30,000 words), but I'm already in love with the series. Justin's book is already written and about to head into the editing process. It should be available in late December or early January. I'll be having a cover reveal soon. 

In the meantime, here's the story blurb...
Tara Malone is having one of those lives. Born to Oscar award-winning actor, Anthony Malone, and model-famous beauty, Veronica Scott, she should have it made. But her curvy figure and out-of-control frizzy red hair are just the start of her many, many issues. Now to make matters worse, she’s started out her week by running over model, Justin James, with her car. She had a lot of fantasies about the cover model, but never did any of them include vehicular assault.

Justin James doesn’t have time for two broken wrists, but neither does his over-achieving family. He can’t open up his fridge or unzip his fly without excruciating pain and no one else has the time to help him. Tara already shot him down at the accident scene, but maybe he can work this so that the curvy bombshell has a reason to hang around for a bit. He’s not above using guilt if it means he gets to know her better.

The first in a new series of novellas inspired by Shauna Kruse’s photography and her beautiful male models.

The Male Model Chronicles.

Note: A special thanks to Amanda Matthews who created a couple of the graphics on this page. They're actually for bookmarks, but they work beautifully as page graphics too. As soon as I get the new bookmarks ordered, I'll do some giveaways of them because they are really fun, so keep an eye on this page.

Smiles,
Christi