We took a little hiatus last week as we all got ready for NaNoWriMo. If you are a NaNo-er, you may be interested in joining the MBT Voices NaNoWriMo celebration. We’re encouraging people to dive in with daily notes, problem solving discussions and some great prizes (including a Kindle!) for those who complete their goal. We also have a tool to help you plot your story!
So, if you’ve been thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo, go sign up on the official NaNoWriMo site, and then visit the 2010 MBT NaNoWriMo Celebration forum for encouragement, tips, and support as you write your novel in 30 days.
Today, we’re going to move onto Act 2 and talk about how weave in the next two beats: Wooing and Sparks, as well as a hint at Beat 6: The Sexual tension (the Kiss!), and finally using the Why’s to add both tension and romance.
Let’s start with defining what goes into Act 2:
ACT 2 (Fun and Games!)
Denial (Step 2: Confirmation of the Lie)
Y in the Road (Step 3: Voice of Truth)
Destruction (Step 4 Realization of Lie/Testing of Truth)
Y in the Road
Devastation (Step 5: Lie is True!) (and the transition to Act 3)
By the time you enter into Act 2, you should have already accomplished setting up your character’s home world, thrown in the inciting incident combined in some way with meeting the hero/heroine. I like to call it the first “bookend” but really, if you don’t have that firm foundation of your character’s wants, their fears, their whys/why nots of the romance and their lie, then you aren’t ready to move into Act 2.
But if you’ve taken the time to build this for your character, then you’re ready for the fun part of the book….the Sparks and the Wooing!
Now remember, your goal in a romance is to draw them together, cause them to fall in love (even if they don’t know it), all the while honing that final Why Not to a sharp point. It’s a delicate balance. Let’s look at how to do this.
First…you want to create some SPARK…so that you can create fire.
Let’s talk about how to create spark, and fire.
Spark, in its essence is all about two stubborn, hard objects (like flint!) that are hit together. Another way to create fire is to create tension, or friction between two objects. With flint stone, these objects are both sharp, and the force of them colliding causes a tiny bit of rock to break off, and thus, spark is made.
Let’s apply this to our romance.
First, we need to get them together. It’s hard to fall in love when you’re not talking to each other. But this where spark happens – when two people from two viewpoints find themselves in conflict. You must have scenes where they are #1, together and #2, have opposite goals. Of course, as the wooing continues, their goals will become more aligned but initially, to start the flame, some sort of conflict is necessary. Even if you are building a Why/Why Not story (with the major conflict coming after they’ve fallen in love), you can create conflict. For example, in my book Nothing But Trouble, PJ and Jeremy meet and are driven by the common goal of escaping the scene of a muder investigation (and Boone) undetected. How they do this causes conflict. Not only that, but what they do afterward is also a source of heated dialogue. They belong together, their WHY is leading the romance (and the Why Not comes up at the end), but their goals in the scene are contrary.
So, how will you create sparks in the scene?
The best way to express this is through dialogue. Great dialogue is about what is said, what is not said, and most off all, all the things they shouldn’t say. To read a number of great articles about dialogue go here: http://www.mybooktherapy.com/index2.php/category/dialogue/
Here’s my one dialogue hint – say that thing that they shouldn’t say, that thing that will get them into the most trouble, and see what happens. J
Now that you know you have to get them together to talk, how will you do this?
ü First, start with their goals – what do they need to accomplish?
ü Then, how can you put the other person in that scene in a way that stands in their way? Or, if you are creating a Why/Why Not story – how can you put that person in a scene that assists them on their journey, yet still creates mini conflict in the scene?
Another way to plot the middle is to look at the Why Nots. How can you continue to insert these, one by one into the story until finally they become glaring?
But Susie, don’t we want them to fall in love? They can’t do that if they are constantly fighting.
You’re right! So…after we set off the sparks, we need to kindle the fire with some WOOING.
Wooing. (I love that word) is all about the WHYs.
I know, I keep preaching about the Whys, but without Whys, we end a story saying, “I don’ buy it. Why did those two belong together?” And we leave the reader in doubt, without believing the HEA.
We talked about the Why elements earlier this year, but there are three elements that draw people together:
1. Their essential values. We like people who hold our values dear to their hearts. At the end of the day, they need to see the core values of each other and have that draw them to each other.
2. Their vacancies. We like people who “complete” us – who can do the things we can’t do. What can they do for each other that the other can’t do?
3. They make each other better people. We like people who can see the best in us and draw it out. What do they see in each other that they draw out, and how do they become better people when they are together?
You dropped in a HINT of one of these Whys in Act 1. Now, it’s time to really go for the gusto. Create scenes that really develop these three elements. Even if you are creating a Why/Why Not, you’ll want to strengthen the Why (because the Why Not will be so devastating they will need to have strong Whys to overcome it). The wooing is the Feeding of the Fire, the nurturing of the Spark.
Wooing is about making us realize, slowly, that he or she is the ONE.
So, we’ve talked extensively about how to find this in movies and books (although if you want to revisit this, we can)…but let’s turn to your wips. Going back to your Whys – can you find something from these three elements that you can use as a scene?
ü What scene do you have that shows how they share essential values?
ü What scene do you have that shows how the other “completes” them?
ü In what scene do they become better people because of the other one.
Now…here’s the Key to keeping the flame alive…Balance. You want to always be adding more kindling to the fire, but both in Whys and Why Nots. Sparks and Wooing. For every wooing scene….follow up with a sparks scene. The more they fall in love, the more we are wooed, the greater the fear of failure when the conflict happens. We want them to succeed!
So, as you are plotting and writing Act 2, ask yourself..are they getting along too well? Is their relationship too easy? It could be time to throw in some sparks. But, if they are fighting too much…give them a wooing scene.
Wooing and Sparks can also be accomplished in one fell swoop with a KISS.
Tomorrow, stop back – we’ll talk about that KISS. J
If you have questions about how to build a great romance, check out the romance discussion at www.mybooktherapy.ning.com
By the way, ACFW Colorado is having a one-day intensive seminar on story crafting – I’ll be introducing my new “Managing the Muddle” class on how to strengthen the middle of your novel. Although registration Deadline was Nov 1, they still may have room. http://www.acfwcolorado.com/events.html
See you next week!
Susie May