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Know Your Character’s Deep Why (Essential Character Tip #1) (Weekly article)
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September 24, 2015
Hi Friend,
Welcome to CreativitySparks (tm) newsletter, tips, resources, and coaching for novelists to build successful and sustainable careers.
We focus on helping you write, publish, and market your novels.
By reading this email you are a part of a community of writers, mostly genre novelists, who write because they have something to say and want to say it in a compelling story way.
Welcome to our Creativity Sparks community!
♥
Today in my teaching article, I exploring the importance of knowing your characters' deep why, their deep motivation.
But first, a summary of what's in this newsletter: - Short Personal Note from Beth
- Know Your Character’s Deep Why (Essential Character Tip #1) (Weekly article)
- Scholarship available for October 2015 Plan Your Novel class: Deadline tonight!
- Another *Free* Live Webinar next week: Register now! Space is limited!
Personal Note from Beth
My cat has been sick and I've been turned upside down and inside out because of that. Last week, she disappeared for nearly two days and I thought that was the end. Cats often leave to die. But she came back and today I'm taking her to the vet. Even though there may be nothing the vet can do (not until the blood test results come in), and certainly nothing I can do (except love her up), I am so glad that she's back from her exploring and is with us. At least she's in good spirits, even if she is way too skinny. I'm glad for every minute I get to spend with my stubborn, willful, French cat, Kitty. (Of course, I'm giving Leo the cat a lot of love too.) [Click here for an Instagram image of Kitty and Ezra holding Leo.] Thanks for listening!
♥
So on to discussing character development and your character's deeper motivations, their deep why. I'll be covering this topic live and more in depth in our Tuesday webinar next week. Hope you'll join us! |
| | Know Your Character’s Deep Why (Essential Character Tip #1)
Recently in a training session with clients in our group coaching program I shared one of the most essential character development tips, that of knowing your character’s deep why. I’ll be sharing more in our special webinar next week. You can sign up for that here. Today I want to share with you what I mean, a tip on how you can deepen your understanding on your character, and why this is important for your story telling. Deep WhyReaders want to know what a character wants — his or her goal — and they want to know why the character wants this goal, or the main character’s motivation. But it’s not enough to stay on the surface when you’re planning your story, though that is a good place to start. (Character planning list here.) Once you know your character’s motivation, next interview your character, asking them this key question: What will having that do for you? Then ask this question each time to the new answer. To illustrate what I mean, here’s an example from my WIP, book 3 about Henrietta The Dragon Slayer: At the start of the third book, Henrietta wants to return a boy to his mother in an unknown and dangerous territory. Why? Because she promised she would and the boy is attached to her. What would having that do for you, Henrietta? Then I’ll be doing the right thing. What would having that do for you, Henrietta? I can’t just abandon the boy. I need to return him to his people, no matter the cost. What would having that do for you, Henrietta? I’m ready to risk it all to protect those I care about. At the start of my story, Henrietta doesn’t yet know this is her deep why. But by about two-thirds through she will have discovered this about herself, and that will be very relevant to her choices. Dig deep to find your character’s deep why + then reveal it bit by it in your story. ( Click to tweet this. You can edit it before publishing.) For more essential character (and plot) tips, please join us for our webinar.
♥
Best, Beth
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| You can now apply for a scholarship
for the October Plan Your Novel class!
Deadline is tonight, Friday, Sept. 25, 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern.
We start next Thursday!
Check it out here:
http://30daywritingchallengefornovelists.bethbarany.com/
In our 30-day class (with the 31st to celebrate!), we will cover planning these aspects of your novel:
- In Week 1, we start small with the Elevator Pitch & Short Synopsis.
- In Week 2, we help you Get to Know Your Main Characters, as it relates to your story.
- In Week 3, we expand the scope into getting clear on your Story Plot & World Building.
- In Week 4, we help you draft a Scene-by-Scene Outline & do Plotting in a way that works for you.
In our October course, we gently challenge writers to plan their entire novels in 30 days, so that they can sit down with confidence and clarity on November 1st and write their novel during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, a free international movement and nonprofit), or any time.
You're invited to join us!
♥
Scholarships Now Available for the Plan Your Novel course To pay it forward all the ways in which I've been helped in my writing and author career journey, we're offering several full and partial scholarships. Designed specifically for those who are facing financial hardship, we ask that you fill out a short application and share a bit about yourself. Good luck!
Deadline to apply: Sept. 25, 6pm PT.
Apply here:
Deadline to apply: Friday, Sept. 25, 6pm PT.
♥
I look forward to having you in the course!
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| | Plan Your Novel: Essential Plot & Character Tips
*New & Updated*
Special Free Webinar for our Community
Last year Ezra and I gave this webinar to over 200 registered attendees. We’re please to bring back this webinar this year!
Date: September 29, 5pm Pacific/8pm Pacific
Space is limited so please come!
A recording will be provided if you can't make it live. |
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Have a Happy and Creative Weekend and Week!
And thanks for showing up for yourself and doing your creative work!
All our best,
Beth & Ezra
beth@bethbarany.com
PS.
If you found this newsletter useful, please forward it to your friends,
writing buddies, and people who you know want to write a novel, but
gosh darn it, haven't, yet.
♥
ABOUT US
Beth and Ezra Barany
are award-winning, best-selling novelists, with 18 books and 5 awards to their name. They are teachers who have worked
with over 100 authors to help them get their books written and
published and into the hands of their readers.
♥ Happily married for over 15 years, we’re passionate about writing, storytelling, and guiding authors to achieve their dreams.
♥ We
offer coaching, change work sessions, book marketing coaching (Beth)
and cover design (Ezra), all for genre novelists. More at bethbarany.com.
ABOUT BETH BARANY
An
award-winning novelist, certified creativity coach and Master NLP
Practitioner, Beth runs Writer's Fun Zone, a blog for and by writers,
and her recently launched school for novelists, the Barany School of
Fiction.
In
her downtime, Beth takes walks, paints, watches movies with her sweetie,
travels, and has coffee with friends and family. And plays with her two
cats, gardens, and does capoeira. And sleeps. She loves sleep.
Photo Credit: by c. 2014 Vivienne McMaster
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