Artist abuser

I am currently reading Picture perfect by Jodi Picoult and although I'm nowhere near as captivated as by My sister's keeper, but I keep reading, even if it was to see how Ms Picolut will deal with some cliches and character stereotypes/archetypes. And while I'm at characters' stereotypes etc, I thought I'd use one of Picolut's characters for my next, a little overdue, post in Believable Characters series.

Cassie, the main female character is married to Alex  - a drop-dead gorgeous, charming man, who is an actor admired and desired by milions of women. Cass loses her cool, scientific head and falls for him, they have a perfect wedding with a dres flown from PAris (or maybe Milan, doesn't quite matter), and then he whisks her away to his world. And here starts her married life - full of surprises.
I haven't actually finished the book, because I got a little bored somewhere half way through. It's a bit obvious what would happen, but to be fair to Picoult Alex is a picture perfect portray of an Artist Abuser.

I have tried to come up with a better, more evocative name for this stereotype/trope, but couldn't. So in the end I've decided to use V.L. Schmidt's term with a little twist - Artist and Abuser is actually an artist abuser, becuase the abuse is usually well hidden and often these couple would appear 'picture perfect' to outsiders.

Key characteristis
Artist abuser is a man of emotions, or rather - emotional storms: from exalted love to angry rage, he switches within seconds. Whatever the emotion, it's passionate, it's full-on. He's good at expressing emiotions, but rubbish at mastering him, which often leads to emotional and even physical abuse, even if he doesn't want to harm the person he's with he can't keep his anger under control. Many AA are genuinely loving men, who really suffer seeing the extend of the damage their rage have produced. That's why in the attempt to make up for the damage, they want to sweep their partners off their feet and shower them with their love.
Some of  AAs however are more sinister and use their abilities to manipulate people, particularly in close relationship, mingling his abuse between acts of generosity and display of love and passion. Whatever the motivation, AA is the master of 'double bind'
AAs attract women because of their passion and ability to access and express emotions, and channel them into creative acts. They are also often artists - painters, writers or actors- just like Picoult's Alex Rivers.


Relationships: AA attracts women who admire his talents and fall for the intensity of his emotions. Their love story is usually short, intense, full of romantic moments and acts of 'crazy in love with you' (e.g. Alex's impromptu trip from Arfica to USA to bring Cassie snow she happened to mention she was missing). If he says 'You are the only person who could understand me/I could ever talk to..' on your Heroine's first date, wants to move in with her on the second and proposes on the third beware! He may be an Emotional Abuser! Their dedication and infatuation with the Heroine can often turn into jealousy and posessiveness.
Obviously, AA's relationships are full of passion, fantastic sex and romantic moments - what makes him different from any other romantic hero is the darker side of his emotions - anger and violence.
They also often emotionally dependent on their partners, like Alex on Cassie, but deny it. They may substitute drama and excitement for emotional intimacy.
To the external world AA often look 'picture perfect' - madly in love, passionate, fun-loving, that's because the abuse happens at home.

Typical back story:Usually Artist Abuse has been a victim of emotional, or even physical abuse in his childhood. Often he has a father, who is an AA himself, or a Femme Fatal as a mother. Sometimes he would have withdrawn paretns, uninterested in him at all, almost unloving, like Alex Rivers in Picture perfect. They grow up in emotional storms, whetehr external (e.g. parents' arguments), or internal (own emotions - hate, anger, unmet needs to be loved and appreciated), and since they never learn how to contol these forces, they just let it happen. They have to fight for the attention of their parents, prove their worth (Alex' father wanted a tough boy, not a softy Alex grew up into), gain their accceptance. Their self esteem and confidence suffers and they often have to resort to 'crutches' like threats, violence, or put a front on to appear stronger than they are.

Typical jobs: any artistic profession: actor, writers, painter, singer, you name it.

Vincent van Gogh - Self-portrait in front of an easel
Photo from Wikipedia, Creative Commons

Motivation:
This hero wants to be someone important and achieving his goal is it's to-be-or-not-to-be. For him every little argument or a minor cough is a fight for life. He's full of passion and thirves on extremes and he does not want to miss any opportunity to experience it.
He's in the spotlight all the time, playing the role of his life, and one not-so-favourite remark or a dry smile can in his opinion destroy his career. He does not trust others, and often has a need to control them.


Biggest fears:
He fears himself - his angry outbusrsts and potential for hurting the loved ones; he does not want to hurt people. he does not like criticism and perceives it as rejection - if one person doesn't like his artwork, he may see it as his own artistic death and destroy what he's created. As an artist he is scared of loosing his creativity and a minor 'writers block' can cause a major emotional breakdown.

Potential for growth:
Having an Artis Abuser as your hero gives you an instanenous internal and extarnal conflict between his and your heroine -his passionate and violent nature create intense push-pull in their relationship. But on the other hand, if you want your Heroine to have HEA with AA, you have to make sure he changes, and changes for good. The growth would usually have to happen around his ability to control his emotionas, particularly anger. But this may create furtehr complications, as he may fear if he harnesses his passionate anger, he may lose his muse compeltely.
You may also need to make him find other ways of improving self esteem than being violent or manipulative.

Examples from literature and film: Vincent Van Gogh, Tristan from Arthurian lenegds, Othello

The wounded hero

I've just started reading a novel and from the moment the Hero first appeared I've a feeling he's one of those quiet introverts who seem withdrawn if not cold - a lonely wolf, if you like. I've already put my bet on a troubled past - a deeply wounded heart or a lost soul, or at least a few scars.

I admit, I have a soft spot for The Wounded Hero, also known as The Lost Soul or The Recluse. In her 45 Master Characters VL Schmidt links this type of character to the archetype of Hades - the god of the underworld.

photo by smokedsalmon
www.freedigitalphotos.com

I've tried to find a good definition of who Wounded Hero is and found a number of references to physical disabilities, but also emotional scars. Love Romance Passion website listed 5 different subtypes of this type of hero, using Damaged Hero as the 'common denominator':

• scarred hero - has physical scars on his body or face and is usually a man who struggles to get over the loss of his looks
• wounded hero - is a man who has more than scars - a disability, has lost a limb, a sense (blind heroes seems to be particularly popular)
• tragic hero - is damaged emotionally; it's someone who has lost everyone and everything that have mattered to him; became a recluse and avoids getting attached to anyone or anything anymore in case he may lose them again
• tortured hero - is a damage hero 'at the end of his rope'; he's someone who has been abused physically, mentally or emotionally and developed very low self esteem
• burdened hero acts alone; he doesn't trust anyone as he has learnt over the years not to; he often lives with a horrible secret, is seeking revenge or absolution

Key characteristics: WH has chosen a solitary life - whether physically (e.g. living on a desert island or in a middle of a forest) or emotionally (single, with no or very few friends, doing a solitary job). He has rejected society or society has rejected him. he may also be not much in touch with reality (living in a middle of a forest, leading self-sufficient life with no broadband and no phones). he prefers his own company and often has good reasons for that - has been betrayed or abused in the past. This is a man with secrets, or even a dark and troubled past...

Relationships: as a rule WH is a loner and has been for a long time, if not for the most of his life. He doesn't know how to be close with other people, he doesn't trust anyone.
It's all obviously only until our Heroine comes on the scene and helps him heal the wounds.

Typical backstory: human beings are typically sociable and loneliness is usually a choice made more from push than pull factor. If you want a recluse - think of what could have pushed him aside, on the fringe of society; and the hint is in the name  - a wound :)
The wound(s) are either physical, or (more often) emotional, but these have to be deep enough to make this man choose solitude over human company. A broken heart? Yes, but you need to throw in other more powerful issues, e.g. betrayal of trust, violation of your hero's values.
My WH has a broken heart not because his ex has left him, but because she made him open up and show his 'soft side' for her, and then she ridiculed him; and then she got the job he dreamed off and destroy a team he loved.
Often WH's wound would go really really deep, back into his childhood - to that dark and troubled past.

Typical jobs: since WH is typically a recluse, any job that allows or requires working on his own - from being a monk, a writer/artist, through a being boss ('being a CEO is a lonely business', same for being a king), to such favourites like cops/private detectives, or special agents. WH's job would often foster his reflective nature and rich inner life.

Motivation: WH loves being on his own, usually because he's afraid of other people and being hurt  again. He often also enjoys his solitary lifestyle because he enjoys his own company and his rich inner life. His main motivation is often the urge to know and understand; or need to heal/lick his wounds away from people.

Biggest fears: Obviously, his biggest fear is being hurt again. Often WH would also be afraid of his own emotions, particularly powerful ones, like love or hatred. he may be not only scared of the power of his own, but also of others' emotions - yet another reason to keep away from people and don;t get too close to anyone. Those WH who tend to think a lot may also be scared of loosing their mind, their solitude, their inner world. 

Potential for growth: since we're talking about romance fiction, WH is up for a tough time - by the end of the book he has to be able to be in a lasting (HEA) relationship, and this is what he often fears most. Potential for growth therefore needs to be focused on learning to trust people, getting in touch with his own emotions and 'soft side' if not weaknesses, being able to give and receive, being capable to be intimate, not only physically but mostly emotionally. In a nutshell - a lot!
Think carefully what back story (baggage) you give them so he has enough time to change and his character's arc is believable, e.g. serious, repeated abandonment early on in his life cannot be fixed with even the biggest love of his life.

Examples from literature and film: Beast in Beauty and The Best, Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, James Bond in Quantum of Solace (did you also have a moment of 'Ah! Now I understand why he's never committed to any of these girls...'?), Agent Mulder from X-files (more secrets anyone?), Harry Potter and quite a few more characters from HP series.

I like reading and writing WH. probably because first of all we have a great source of internal conflict for Hero - he has good reasons for not falling in love with Heroine, and even when he falls he'd rather keep away from the power of his emotions and her closeness.
I also like WH because I like creating caring female characters with inner healing powers - who is better equip to help WH heal than another of my favourites - The Perfect Nurse? I enjoy the journey of the hero who learns to open up and heals.
And last but not least I like WH because I have a soft spot for man with layers and secrets....

Do you like Wounded Heroes? Why? or why not? Do you prefer physical or emotional wounds?

How to create internal conflict in romance

Conflict is the blood of romantic fiction. Readers don't read romance novels because they want to know what happens to the characters - they know it already. They read to know how the characters overcome the conflict and end up together. It's conflict keeps your hero and heroine apart and makes the reader turn the page.
So there's no romance without conflict.

photo by Ambro
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Conflict in romance can be external or internal. External conflict comes from the outside and affect your characters; it's the plot. Internal conflict on the other hand comes from within the character. It's an internal battle, an obstacle they have to overcome, a choice between love/lasting relationship and ... this other thing. Internal conflict arises form an unmet need - something that happened in the past and left a hole in the character, the character will struggle to fill (as Molly O'Keefe said in her great article on Conflict from Character in 'Heart to Heart' - RWNZ Newsletter, May 2011).
How do you find these unmet needs? How do you create internal conflict in romance?

There are a number of ways you can 'source' your characters' internal conflict:

1. Your character's goals , plans, ambitions- look at what he/she's always wanted to achieve, their desires. Whether it's a life-long ambition to become a great scientist, a dream of round the world trip, or peace of mind, need for financial security, or revenge. Whatever drives them, the goal is to get somewhere which is away from love.

Risk: this type of internal conflict, if not supported by 'added layers' (see below) and rooted deeper in the character's past risks being too shallow to carry the entire novel. If she wants to go on a round the world trip why can't she go with him? Or why doesn't she go, keep in touch with him while travelling (we have technology), and get back together on return?

This is a good first layer of conflict, because our goals and decisions we make are often based on our previous experiences and even deeper desires or fears, so just the moment the reader think the character can easily overcome this obstacle, you just peel the layer and show another one.


2. Your character's past experience - whether one-off or repeated as an adult; or something that has been haunting your character from her/his childhood. the deeper (the more back in time and the stronger) you can go, the better - the hole will be bigger and more difficult to heal - would certainly not be sorted out with a plaster. Conflict arising from this kind of experience will often be an obstacle to being in a lasting relationship, e.g. inability to trust another person, fear of being abandoned or hurt again.
Look for previous relationship problems and failures; inner fears, doubts. When creating a problem, make sure it's not an opinion formed on a one-off experience, unless the experience is of traumatic size. Again, to build up conflict that could carry a novel, look for experiences which create strong, lasting emotions -

I've recently read a novel where the heroine was reluctant to get back with her miraculously 'returned from dead' husband, because he'd walked away from her life 2 years before and never bothered to communicate with her. When he finally turns up at her wedding (to someone else) he explains that he has been hurt badly at a war, nearly lost his life and certainly ability to contact her. She loves him but feels she can't trust him, because of this one-off event; she had no previous experience of being 'dumped' or 'stood up'. Not enough of a internal conflict for me to make me believe this situation, so I put the book away having read about 2/3.

When you use a recent relationship issue, whether in current relationship, or previous one, make sure the problem actually goes deeper still - to another relationship, or even better - back to childhood experience and fears. See my post on building believable characters for more suggestions.

In another recently read novel, The heroine breaks up with her partner who she is madly in love with because he doesn't want to change his very dangerous job. He's late for dinner or date with her, comes back unharmed but just... She realises that he loves his job and will never give it up; and she does not want him to give up the job he loves, so she walks away.
This novel shows the layers very well, because the reader is soon informed that the heroine's father who was a rescuer himself died while on duty. The heroine knows exactly what it means to loose the most important man in her life to work.
But this does not end here. As the story progresses, we learn the heroine's biggest secret - that her mother committed suicide shortly after her husband's death because she couldn't cope with the death of her beloved father. And the heroine still feels guilty for not being able to prevent it. Do you want your child to feel like that? or do you believe your children deserve a better future?


3. Your characters beliefs and values are great source of internal conflict. I actually think it's the best way to (seemingly) insurmountable problems at your heroine/hero. Because people invest a lot in maintaining values and beliefs, they will hold onto them for much longer than to plans or decision made without this weight. People don't change their beliefs very often, there has to be a special reason for doing so and this one-in-the-lifetime love, this special relationship may be just the agent of the change.

I like books where the source of internal conflict is in the character's belief system - not only because you go really deep, reaching to the core of your character. Also because beliefs are formed throughout life, and are combination of our upbringing, past experience and own decisions, so they rise from all the layers. In fact, you can build the conflict through all the layers.
One of the favourites in romantic fiction is the issue of single parenting - I've read a number of books where the heroine (often due to her own upbringing without or with absent father) finds herself pregnant but doesn't want to bring up the child on her own, or stays in an abusive relationship because she believes children should have both parents. Another favourite includes men who believe that women should stay at home until children are bigger, or give in their careers completely to be mothers and/or homemakers; and they would not marry/be in a serious relationship with a career girl. This belief can stem from happy childhood with mummy at home, or the other way round - the trauma of being shifted from one nursery/childminder to another and never seeing their mother.
There is a layer of goals, then there is a layer of own experience, and there is a layer of beliefs.

Risk: you have to be careful when challenging people's beliefs and values, because values are actually what makes your characters unforgettable and heroic; values can also be saving grace, so be mindful not to challenge a belief or a value that your character absolutely needs to maintain integrity.


4. The other character's goals, past experience and beliefs - to create tension between your characters give them conflicting goals, different past experience or opposing sets of beliefs. If you combine a man raised by a single, working mother yearning for a homemaker and an independent career women who needs to prove her intellectual worth to the world because she's always been 'sois belle and tais-toi!', you should have enough to keep them apart for 200 pages.

Once you have conflict and inevitable choice to make (love or...?)
- put your characters in situation where they have to make this choice
- don't let them act out of character
- peel the layers like an onion; adding depth and drama (more tears, anyone?) as you go.

Read more about internal vs external conflict in Jennifer Holbrook-Talty's great post. Here Terry Odell shows how to build conflict and tension into your romance. And here's more about conflict and tension in general.

As a reader I enjoy multi-layered conflict, deeply rooted in the character's beliefs, because I think it reaches to the core of a character and require true growing to get to Happily Ever After. However much I like it, I also think it's difficult to pull off and the more I admire authors who can do it.
As a writer, I try to source internal conflict from my character's beliefs or values.  Do you have a favourite way of creating internal conflict? How do you do it?

Damsel in distress - believable characters and emotional balance

My writing drought unfortunately hasn't finished yet but I'm fighting it. I was going to write about learning on e-courses and online conferences but I was braindead for a several days and even looking at my keyboard made my eyelids go heavy and droop. I hoped someone would come and wave their magic wand and dispel the horrible thing, but I waited and waited and...nothing happened.

Then I read a very interesting post on Too Stupid To Live heroine on Heroes and Heartbreakers blog and thought Why don't I write about another post in Believable Characters series? It shouldn't be hard. I like writing about people I know. And who would I know better than a Damsel in Distress, since (clears her throat, embarrassed) I am a bit of one.

Key characteristic: Damsel in Distress usually lives a charmed, playful life, where there is no place for mundane problems. She has a strong sense of being special, and above and beyond rules and laws. She dances on meadows, picking flowers and chasing butterflies. She doesn't worry about paying bills, or what's for dinner. Whatever her age, she is always a little girl, who loves fun and have no sense of danger. She gets herself into trouble because she looks at the world through rose-tinted glasses or because she doesn't feel vulnerable, just like Sleeping Beauty who goes to a tower she's never known existed, speaks to an old woman she's never met before and tries something she doesn't even knows the name of (spindle).
DiD always looks young and her clothes usually emphasise this. Long, floating, flowery dresses, hats, long hair, a bunch of flowers in her hand - yes, you've got it right! DiD loves her freedom and being special. She's proud of being different.

On the other hand her youth, energy, enthusiasm for what's new, genuine curiosity for people and the world make her an attractive person. She makes friends easily and has many of them. She is a great listener, can 'read people' and is gentle. Since she needs people to support her, she avoids conflicts, keeps her opinions to herself and is a great peace keeper.
She doesn't care about the future, often she would not have a concept of future beyond the next week. She doesn't plan her life beyond the weekend. Forget marriage, children, commitments. Some Damsels in Distress forever remain damsels fading into spinsterhood with a wilted daisy chain on their head.

The black side of a DiD is a Troubled Teen (again: whatever her age) - out-of-control, ignorant, angry young woman who would get into trouble with the police, gangs, or unwanted pregnancy and expect her parents to turn up and rescue her. This type is even more selfish and manipulative than her more innocent sister. With her lack of sense of danger, feeling of being special, invincible and entitled she wastes her life away on proving (or rather not proving) her point.


Relationships: The key word is dependence. Damsel in Distress can't make decisions for herself and needs other people to lean on, feed her, entertain her, organise the life for her. She has trouble committing to one relationship and will happily jump from one to another. And since she can't live by herself, she goes from one relationship to the next straightaway, without reflecting on what went wrong with the previous one. She comes across as being innocent and vulnerable, and attracts men who want to take care of her, or who feel she's easy to domineer.

Typical backstory: Damsels I've met in real life were of two types. First one- with overprotective (or even controlling) parents, never had to grow up and take responsibility for her life - there was always someone to rescue them (usually Daddy, hence Damsels are often Daddy's Princesses). They grew up being special, for whatever reasons - be it being the only child (daughter), the youngest one, or maybe the sick one? Although they may (intellectually) know the world is a scary place, they never had a sense of it since they have always been protected.
Be mindful, there may be a serious child abuse lurking behind these lovely pictures of caring parents. The worse the abuse, the stronger the connection between the abuser and the child, and 'coming to her rescue' may be part of the game.

The other type is a child who experienced abandonment at an early stage (usually in the first 2 years); the abandonment didn't have to be of the scale of abuse or even purposeful. A typical scenario is a single full time working mother, a mother who became sick for a longer period (e.g. had to go to hospital, or was depressed) and couldn't take care of the child. The girl then had to 'fend for herself' - she's mastered how to make people look after her, but hasn't learnt the sense of real danger, or worse - since she knew how to make people do things for her she's gained a (absolutely false) sense of omnipotence, just like toddlers have.

Typical jobs: DiD loves their freedom and would hate mundane 'nine to five' jobs. She has short attention span and needs constant stimulation. DiD loves variety and hates making decisions. She is often an Eternal Student, moving from one course to another and collecting certificates, diplomas and other academic trophies. If you want to add external conflict, give your DiD a boring, repetitive office job, leaving which would require far too many decisions to make and a few people to upset.

Motivations: safety and security, but also freedom to be herself and lead whatever lifestyle she likes. She enjoys being different and would go to great lengths to emphasise it.

Biggest fears: being abandoned (yet again), left to fend and make decisions for herself ; loosing her freedom; not being special; boredom

Potential for growth: Although Damsel in Distress seems to be a little passe these days, I believe that she can be an interesting character to have in your romance novel. Not only she can be likable (unless it's the Troubled Teen you have) but there is great potential for growth!  Just imagine this sweet, helpless, spineless flower girl meeting a man who hates damsels in distress. Imagine that journey she embarks on to become a strong, assertive, independent woman and win her man's heart. All you need to do is to help her realise the world isn't as safe place as she thinks, get off her backside and start taking responsibility for her own life and future. So much room to grow.

More about Damsel in Distress in media here.


Examples from film and literature: Persefone, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, Jane Austen's Emma, Jane in Tarzan, many of Bond girls or my favourite DiD - Abby Harper from My Family comedy series.




Do you think there is still place for Damsels in Distress in contemporary romantic fiction? Do you like them? Or rather feel like teaching them a lesson on danger and independence?

The Charmer - believable characters and emotional baggage

Apologies for not posting for over 2 weeks but I've been through a bit of a writing&blogging drought recently. Today it's time for another romance archetype/stereotype, but a male one for a change - The Charmer. It's the type of character closest to Victoria L. Schmidt's archetype of The Woman's Man and Dionysus, the god of the grape harvest, wine, madness and ecstasy.
I have come across many charmers in romance novels. It's a prefect hero for your story because in order to stay in a relationship (for the Happily Ever After) he has to grow.

Photo by Federico Stevanin
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Key characteristics: The Charmer loves women and women love him. He is a free spirit, cheeky, cocky, simply likable. He can also be kind and loyal and knows his limits. He understands women, can be their best friend, support them and encourage to become stronger and more aware of their beauty, inner strenghts or charm.
In romance novels, and certainly in those medical one I've read, The Charmer is often a lover of life and fun, and teaches the heroine how to (re)-discover simple pleasures of life, spontaneity, fun and sensuality. he is the one who embarks on crazy adventures and is keen to try new things.
If you have a heroine who has dedicated her life to her career (would work well with The Perfect Nurse), who forgotten how to or is unable to celebrate sensual pleasures or fun, a heroine who would benefit from a self-esteem boost, The Charmer is your man. He will help her change.

Relationships: Although The Charmer would do a good, loyal friend, he is unable to commit to one relationship. He loves his freedom far too much and is scared of commitment and responsibility that comes with being in a relationship. Fortunately, this is exactly who you may need for your story, because with carefully set up conflict and character's arch you can help transform The Charmer into Mr Right. Interestingly, he forms strong friendships with women, but not with men and he is often rejected by other men and society for being different, or not manly enough (which is not true).

The Charmer is a dreamer, but he often doesn't have what it takes to achieve his dreams. He doesn't worry about money and often doesn't have them. He can be moody, loves sex and can make it fun and ecstatic. He has had many women and has broken (not on purpose!) many hearts. To him, all women are beautiful. He can see their inner beauty and can help bring it up to the surface (sometimes in Pygmalion's way), but no one will ever be as good as the ideal he is looking for. The ideal has a lot to do with his mother, and The Charmer may even be aware that his ideal Miss Right is a woman who could be both - a mother and a wife to him.

Typical backstory: Typically, The Charmer had a strong and close (too strong and too close) relationship with his mother. It was her who taught him how to understand women, how to be gentle to them and how to make them happy. His father is often an absent or distant figure, with little if any influence over the boy. Often, his mother taught him that men are bad and harm women (like his father harmed his mother) - that's why The Charmer doesn't like other men.
The Charmers I've met in real life often had Femmes Fatale for mothers - there is no woman more beautiful, sexier and more charming than her. Sometimes, the mother is idealised because she died in his early life and the young man has been searching for that perfect wife who would also be a mother to him (It sounds like one of your characters, Fiona, doesn't it?).

Typical jobs: As a free spirit, The Charmer will often hover on the fringe of society. He's a dreamer without the power of commitment so you won't find him among local businessmen, or on a list of high achievers. He rarely cares about his career, so despite talents, intelligence and potential, he will rarely have a powerful job, or he may even have no proper job at all. He's more likely to live like a hippie, or some other counterculture believer. He can work in other realms and dimensions - as a Shaman, a spiritual teacher, or be a pirate, a rock star or James Bond.

Motivations: the unconditional love (or his mother/wife), the total freedom (and other dreams), the thrill of having fun; also the fear of commitment.

Biggest fears: loosing his female friends, his freedom (hence fear of commitment and jobs with lots of rules, regulations and structure) and being exposed as a weak, unambitious dreamer (hence the choice of careers where ambitions don't count); also being prosecuted by the society as not being 'man enough' (I can see a potential source for internal conflict here).

Potential for growth: in order to remain in one relationship, The Charmer needs to learn to commit and be responsible. As he has not had a good male role model, he also needs to learn to be a grown-up man in the society, whether it's related to having a family or a 'proper' career. He may also need to learn how to interact with men (and that not all men wants 'one thing' and want to harm women).

Examples from film and literature: James Bond, Captain Jack Sparrow from The Pirates from the Caribbean, Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing.

I admit, I like having a Charmer as a hero, because there is a lot of potential for internal and external conflict with my typical, overly committed, serious, all-work-no-joy heroine. Do you like The Charmer? Why?
What is your favourite type of hero?

Building believeble relationships between characters in fiction

Conflict between your characters is the essence of every romance story. It drives the story forward and characters apart. Although it doesn't stop your hero and heroine from failing in love with each other, it stops them from falling into each other's arms in Chapter one.

Conflict comes from your characters' character. It's about what they care about, strive for, what they're scared of. What is at stake in the conflict, as Kate Walker in her '12 point guide to writing romance' writes, has to be important enough for your characters to be worth arguing over and even taking the risk to lose the love of their life. And when, in attempts to create really powerful tension (conflict), you give your characters opposing goals and strong motivation to achieve them, after all that effort to keep your hero and heroine apart, it may be hard to make them fall into each other's arms in the last Chapter.

Happily ever after is as much the essence of romantic fiction as conflict. And although nowadays a romantic novel does not have to end with wedding bells ringing, we, as romance writers, need to give our readers enough to believe that hero and heroine's relationship will last until their golden anniversary, or at least as long as we can think of. To achieve a satisfying ending, there has to be enough attraction between your characters throughout the story. There needs to be a balance the push of conflict with the pull of love.

So how can we build a relationship that will last, at least on paper? What are the keys to a successful relationship, beside the most obvious sexual attraction?



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at www.freedigitalphotos.net



1. Good communication - happy couples exchange ideas, feelings, news, beliefs, problems in a polite, respectful and appreciative manner. Even when you have to have your H/H arguing and or misunderstanding  each other show that they listen, communicate, understand and be understood in other areas. E.g. in medical romance H&H can have problems in communicating on private level, but they do it much better when they work together.


2. Constructive resolution of conflict - when criticising, happy couples don't generalise ('You always do this', or 'You never say that'); they attack the problem not the person, they don't withdraw from the interaction. even when you characters disagree over something, show them being able to see solutions in a constructive manner.

3. Shared values and beliefs- happy couples share values and spiritual beliefs. Show your H&H being passionate about the same issues, e.g. greener living, civil rights, their faith. Successful couples agree that they want to pursue the same life paths, values and goals and mutually commit to it, whether it's about having or not children, saving or spending money, travelling or settling down.
4. Sharing and similarities - maybe opposites attract but it's similarites that keep people together. Give your hero and heroine things to do together - a shared hobby, a passions for dancing or love of early swim in the sea, and let them spend quality time together, outside the daily routine of household chores and work

5. Ability to understand each other motives. Give them opportunities and skills to understand each other's motives. When your hero or heroine is feeling angry, hurt or betrayed because of something the other one has said or done, at some point show them taking a moment for quiet reflection to try to understand why the other one has said or done what they did. This way, you make sure that when they finally fall in each other arms, their understanding of the other person and their forgiveness is genuine.

6. Humour. Let them share a sense of humour - it's not only one of things they share, but also a fantastic tool to deal with difficult moments in life.

7. Mutual admiration and respect. Let them admire and respect each other - again to use medical romance as an example, even when they are still not able to see enough qualities on the personal level, H&H often admire and respect each other for who they are professionally.

8. Give them ability to deal with crisis, stress and frustration - it will come handy in the future (after the Happily Ever After)

9. Show that each of them is capable of being empathic, sensitive, selfless and honest; equip them with fidelity, adaptability and tolerance- in other words: give them what it takes to live with another person in such intimate closeness for a long time.

More about qualities of successful couple here and here.

And what do you do to make sure that the Happily Ever After is possible despite all the differences, personality clashes and arguments you have thrown at you hero and heroine throughtout your story?

The Perfect Nurse - believeble characters and emotional baggage



First of all, apologies for taking so long to write the next post in the Believable Characters and emotional baggage series. Since I promised to write about The Good Wife stereotype/archetype I've been waiting for my copy of 45 Master Characters to arrive. It arrived today (after many problems), but there is no Good Wife in there. Well, not in the sense I understand this type.
I don't want to confuse anyone by sticking a wrong label on a character, so I decided to put this one off until I'm sure what Elizabeth (Currie) meant by the Good Wife. BTW, dear Elizabeth can you please, give a couple of examples of Good Wives from fiction or film?

In the meantime another character you are likely to come across while reading women's fiction and romance - The Perfect Nurse. As you can imagine - this type often populate medical romance and in fact, heroines in two novels I've read recently, as well as my heroines (Ann and a new one - Stephanie) have many features of The Perfect Nurse.




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Key characteristics: The Perfect Nurse is often a strong woman, putting others before herself, helpful, caring, committed to (her family, job, whatever she is involved into), dedicated, would go out of her way to help, generous, altruistic, prone to sacrifice; also tends to forfeit  her own identity and dreams for the sake of the person she's caring for; lacking assertiveness, often struggles to look after herself. PN rarely cares about her looks, she's often not aware of her sex appeal or external beauty.

She needs to be needed, exists through her giving, often can't take or even ask for help. Giving, caring, nurturing are her raisons d'etre; if this is taken away from her - she falls to pieces. She identifies herself through her role as a carer, nurturer (e.g. I'm Josh's mother; if in a caring profession, her job would become her hobby and whatever else she needs in life). If she can't look after other people she doesn't know what to do with herself. Sometimes a PN would realise herself through motherhood and may even have one child after another to feel fulfilled.
Her caring can be stifling and in the extreme she becomes The Overcontrolling Mother or even The Evil Matriarch.

Relationships: PN have lots of friends - people love being around her; she loves being among people she can help, so when it comes to relationships she would tend to fall for men she can care for: single dads, wounded heroes (physically or emotionally), or disadvantage men. In the extreme, PN is likely to be in relationships with alcoholics, compulsive adulterers, liars and other types of helpless cases, believing that her love will cure them. If PN happens to be in a relationship with a strong, sound and perfectly happy hero, it's probably because she thinks he has some secret flaw she can uncover and heal (I'm going to write more about creating realistic and lasting relationships soon).

Typical backstory: PN has always been looking after someone from a very young age. It's usually a woman who had to look after her younger siblings, sick parents or elderly and frail people. Often there is a history of abandonment in their life, but later rather than early - at the time when a little girl can decided to be strong and look after others (8-12 y.o) - this may be in a context of parents divorcing, mother becoming ill/dying.
She's usually gone through life caring for other people, being a home and a peacemaker, a specialist in making other people happy and rubbish at being assertive and looking after herself.

Typical jobs: of course - a nurse, but also other caring professions, like doctors, vets, social workers, nannies, professional carers, teachers. PN would often work/volunteer for a charity. She is likely to work more than necessary, stay after hours to do duties she doesn't have to do because she cares so much for her patients. She also tends to get overinvolved and loose professional boundaries (e.g. Ann, a psychologist form my first novel goes on a private search to find a missing patient). If working in health care system, she is likely to be in conflict with people who perceive health care as business

Motivation: PN needs to be needed. She also strives for love, acceptance and belonging. She would love to be looked after but she can't do it. She often can't even ask for help - asking for help is perceived by her as a sign of weakness. After all, she's the helper!

Biggest fears: not being needed anymore, so loosing the person she looks after (child has grown up, hero is healed), loosing job, retiring; also being forced to ask for help.

Potential for growth: PN may need to learn to let go of her need to look after other people and redefine her identity not through other people. As she isn't good at looking after herself, she may need to learn it, or learn to let others take care of her, and even learn to ask for help.

Examples form film and literature: Demeter, Beauty in Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins.

Characters and emotional baggage - your characters' motivations

Once again, there is an interesting theme to things I'm doing in different areas of my life at the moment.
I've just done a 'business skills for beginners' course (for my day job), where we talked a lot about what motivates people. I'm also doing an online writing workshop on GMC - Goal Motivation and Conflict (with RWNZ). Interestingly enough, I'm also trying to come up with enough conflict for my new novel and got stuck trying to think about my main character's motivation.

Motivation is the reason(s) WHY people do things; it's what makes us move or act. In fiction, motivation ties in with characters' goals. Characters have goals BECAUSE of their motivation.

So what is what motivates people, and how to develop your characters' motivation so it last throughout the book and make the reader turn the page?

People can be motivated in 3 major ways

1. Fear or The Stick.

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Unfortunately, although a good one, fear is a temporary motivator and works only as long as the threat. It's also an external motivator -remove it from the picture and motivation disappears.

* My heroine returns to the ward the hero works on to finish her run. If she doesn't make up for the time off sick she won't be able to complete the training and become a consultant, which is her dream. But once her log book is filled in she has no longer interest in staying on the ward.

2. Incentive or The Carrot.

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Unfortunately incentives also provide only temporary and external motivation, so won't last long. 

* if my heroine wanted to work on the unit longer than absolutely necessary to complete the run because she wanted to become a consultant and because of the prestige of the unit - this would only last as long as her training requirements and the need for that prestige. Once she had enough to put on her CV, she would go.

Unless, of course she had another reason for staying there.

Well, she has. She wants the Hero.

Why?

This is the bit I need to work out, but it must be something to do with her attitude.

3. Attitude is the best motivator: more permanent (as we don't change our attitudes too often) and what's more important, internal or internalised - coming from within the person.

Attitude is an established way of thinking or feeling, which is shaped by our past, by
a/ upbringing, family values
b/ education
c/ personal experience
d/ mistakes and failures
In my experience, the deeper the attitude is rooted, the stronger the motivation, e.g. an attitude developed as a result of upbringing is more likely to last and motivate us than what we have learned from mistakes. The best motivation is through attitudes which developed on several levels - from upbringing, through education, personal experience and learning from mistakes.

At the moment I am reading a novel, where the heroine broke up with the hero, because she couldn't cope with his need to have a dangerous job. She wanted him safe, at her side when she needed him. Thanks to her education, she knew what potentially could go wrong with his job and that he ultimately can loose his life. Throughout her relationship with this guy she'd learnt that she couldn't rely on his promises of being back soon or making up for this time with another time tomorrow, or indeed being there for her when she needed -because he couldn't guarantee he would be back on time etc.
But the problem doesn't stop at the level of personal experience and failure to make this relationship work. It reaches deeper levels. She knew he could die while on duty, not only because she was a doctor and could figure it out, but also because her father, who had a similar profession died while on duty. She didn't want her beloved man to die prematurely. She also knew well what it's like to live with a man, who might die while on duty - she had seen her mother not coping with that every day her father went to work. And she didn't want to spent her life worrying sick about her man, like her mother did.

These are all WHYS she had to end this relationship and why there was no point in trying to make it work. No way.
Fantastic motivations and a good source of conflict (because hse obviously loved the man and wanted to be with him for the rest of her life, because (here goes a list of usual physical, intellectual and emotional qualities that usually romance heroes are supplied with - all good motivation though!)

Easy?
So now, since my heroine has a bunch of good reasons why she wants to work and be with the hero, I have to come up with a few good reasons why my heroine would want to avoid the hero like a plague.
I've got some thinking to do.

How do you find motivations for your characters?

Femme Fatale - believable characters and emotional baggage

I have been thinking how to organise my series on developing believable characters and have come up with an idea as old as the world
Archetypes!.

And as I am a women's fiction and romance writer I am going to start with characters who are likely to populate these genres, or with a romance/female twist. However, if you don't write in any of these genres, don't worry. The truth is that these characters populate not only fiction, but also films, theater plays and most of all - myths and real life.

Let's start with Femme Fatale.

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Femme Fatal - Aphrodite
a.k.a The Seductive Muse (45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt), Black Widow, Siren, etc.

Key characteristics:beautiful, sexy, creative, lively, fun-loving and fully aware of her attractiveness. She has great taste for clothes, food, wine and expensive jewellery - in general a lust for life. She lives intensely, if not dramatically. If emotions are not intense they don't matter; if emotions are not intense enough - she would make them look, feel, hear, smell and touch like a nuclear exposure, but only if she has enough audience. She is the master of emotions - own and of others, always tuned in to what other may need.
She needs constant admiration and has to be the centre of attention. She seduces powerful men with her looks, sex, creativity and manipulation. And then, she dumps them because she can't give up the thrill of the chase. It's the chase that counts.

Relationships: she cares about men and not so much about women; rarely has female friends mainly because of jealousy and FF inability to relate in ways other than through sensuality and sex. She has had several lovers, sometimes more than one at a time, tends to be 'the other woman'. Her relationships are short and intense, she prefers older, 'father-figure men, with money and power. She is usually the one who ends the relationship first.

Typical backstory:
These types usually have unusually close relationships with their fathers, often coloured with over or covert seduction (including child abuse) and expectations that Daddy's Little Girl needs to be an attractive woman. Their father are often womanisers, or those who perceive woman's attractiveness though their external beauty only. More often than not these girls need to fight for their parents attention and they quickly learn that the more dramatic they become, the better the outcome.

FF's childhood is often full of changes and instability - their families move from one place to another (e.g. military families), their mothers have new lovers every month, their fathers sometimes bring home a lot of money and sometimes only debts.

Typical jobs: actress, singer, dancer, fashion and beauty, sales persons; anything where beauty and charm is necessary, but nothing requiring focus, attention to detail and structured, long-term commitment (a typical FF would not become a scientist or a CEO).

Motivation: FF usually strives for love, approval and social acceptance

Biggest fears: losing her attractiveness (ageing) and creativity; also: being in one, lasting relationship.

Potential for growth: often she would want to be recognised for her brain not only for her looks and needs to learn how to let people see beyond that (melo)dramatic facade; good at sensing emotions and needs of others FF can develop deeper empathy

Trap! Don't assume that love can heal her, even if she finally finds that Mr Right FF will struggle to settle. She needs to mature first - learn to rely on herself, not on men; become independent and most of all - give herself that approval and acceptance she longs for.

Examples from literature and film: Sally Bowles from Cabaret, Vivian in Pretty Women, Emma Bovary in Madame Bovary


You can read a little more on Femme Fatale in media here.


I can't remember reading about any FF main characters in romantic fiction recently. Does FF still have place in romance as Heroine? What do you think? Have you ever made a FF your main character?

How to build believeble characters- part 1. Emotional baggage

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This is my second post on building characters, whose past, persent and future fit together and make sense.

Emotional baggage, when handled well, can be a great source of internal and external conflict. It's what has formed your characters' motivations and will provide fertile ground for them to grow.
However, it is important not to overdo it, as you may end up with someone who has more than your novel can handle.

If you want to use emotional baggage as a tool to build your character you need to remember these simple, general rules:

1. Age
Personality needs time to mature. It's different for different people, but as a rule of thumb people are rarely mature by the age of 20, most people would achieve maturity in their mid- late twenties. Does it mean you can't have an 18 y.o. mature, responsible young man? Well, you can, but make sure you give him enough life experience to back up your claims.

What are the characteristics of mature personality?
Mature people have sense of self, ability to evaluate themselve without bias and are realistic in judging other people and situations. They are emotionally secure, are capable of forming loving, reciprocal relationships and have a philosophy, which gives their life a purpose and allow to decide about their long term goals and behaviour. More on earmarks of  mature personality here. And here you can check how mature is your character.

2. Family
There is a good reason why probably all languages have their own versions of 'Like father, like son'. We learn how to live, interact with other people, think about the world, react to it, etc  from our parents, and other close family memebrs. Even if you do everything to not to be like your father, it's your father's personality that is shaping you.
If you want to have a heroine who has problems in relationships with men, you have to think why she has a problem with men. The most likely reason would be not good relationship with her father.
If you give someone a family where no one is normal and make your character completely normal, you have to give this guy a chance to learn how it is to be normal. Send him to a boarding school or foster family perhaps?
It's the same the other way round - I haven't yet seen a person with serious emotional problems and a normal family.

3. Previous relationships.
In romance it is important that the relationship between your heroine and hero is unique and special, like never before. While they may have (and in typical modern adult romance they even should have) been in previous longterm relationships, this one is unique. If you decide to give them previous relationships, you need to think about the reasons why they have failed.
The trouble is, when you come to a certain age, a string of unsuccesful relationships becomes a pattern and hence a traits of character. A typical example is a woman who gets trapped in a series of abusive relationships (tip: look at her relationship with her father!), or a man who always ends up 'under the thumb' (tip: look at the relationship between his parents)
Generally speaking, if someone hasn't been able to form succesful, longterm (over a year) relationships by the age of 30, there is a good deal of chance that this person have a deep rooted problems with forming loving relationships.
If your character's longterm relationship ended, you have to think about a reason why. In relationships things don't happen without a reason, and 'it takes two to tango'. If one of the partners had an affair, it means something in this relationship was missing, so they needed to look outside.

4. Childhood trauma
If you decide to give your character an experience of childhood abuse, be very, very careful. Not only it's a sensitive issue you need to address within what your genre allows you, but also you may create potential pitfalls for your character development and your ending.
It's probably easier if you write literary fiction or women's fiction, but if you're writing in romance genre, bevery careful. Childhood abuse particularly repeated, whether physical, emotional or sexual, leave effects impossible to erase. 80% of young adults who were abused as children meet the criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder.
Love heals - that's right, but an adult survivor of childhood abuse who has never been able to form a loving, trusting and nurturing relationship will not be able to from one without long term therapy (or a therapeutic relationship, not necessarily in professional sense).
Here you can read more about lasting impressions of childhood trauma and causes and effects of child abuse.

5. Outlook on life
Your character's outlook on life hasn't been born in vacuum either. Whether you believe that your outlook has been shaped by your experience, or that your outlook shapes your experience, you need to make sure these elements are consistent and logical.
Of course, there is the evergreen debate nature versus nurture, but even if you don't want to go that deep, make sure that the way your character perceives life, people and themselve is consistent with their past experience.


These are general rules, as as usual there may be exceptions to them. Remember the more emotional baggage you give your character, the more difficult her/his change will be. When writing romance, make sure that your charatcer has time and opportunity to grow first before jumping into relationship. If there is no change within the person, new relationship itself is not likely to bring about the change. The change has to come from within.


Have you encounter any of these problems while creating your characters? Is there anything else important I haven't talked about? Do you have any more questions?
Please, ask. if not under the post, feel free to email me and I will do my best to answer your question.

Developing believable characters - my 2p worth

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I have been struggling to find a voice for this blog since the beginning. There are so many writers' blogs out there. There are so many excellent writers and published authors sharing their knowledge of the craft and their tips on the industry. Who am I to compete with them?

I like Suzie Quint's idea of presenting careers for characters. I think it's quite original. I wanted to do someting like that.

Jody Hedlund's article 'How to avoid becoming another boring writers' blog' got me thinking a little more.

Is there anything unique I can offer to fellow writers? Do I have an interesting story to tell?

And then came Scott Egan's comments on characters he doesn't like. Scott is right, in an attempt to create powerful internal conflict, sometimes writes come up with characters who have just too much emotional baggage to be believable.

Characters have to be real. They have to have life experience which has shaped them into the person they are now. People don't become bad without good reasons. People generally don't get over a trauma in a blink of an eye, but their worlds don't fall apart without good reasons in the past and present.

And then I had a light bulb moment.
My day job involves a lot of listening to people's stories and trying to make sense of what I've heard. I have heard so many stories I can usually tell a real story from a made-up one. I am pretty good at guessing how certain people would react to certain events and attitudes based on their history. I can even, sort of, predict, what their lives may be like in the future.

No, I'm not a fortune teller. I'm a shrink. And this is what I can offer my fellow writers. I can share my experience of understanding human nature to help understand how to create believable characters with potential for powerful conflict but without too much emotional baggage.
Heros, villains, stereotypes or archetypes - you name it. Do you want to have an insight into human's mind?
Join me - I'll open the door for you.