THE WRITE WHISPER: A gem of an idea

One of the most common questions I'm asked as an author is 'where do you get your ideas?'

The answer?

Everywhere! A glance, a couple holding hands, a newspaper headline, a magazine article or often in that strange half-awake/half-asleep state where I scramble frantically for a pen and pad in the dark and scribble down that nebulous idea/opening line/title before it fades (I'm always scared I'll forget it by morning if I don't write it down!)

Right, so you have your idea.
Where do you start?

Last year, I wrote an article for Romance Writers of Australia's monthly journal on 'What Drives Your Story?'

The article revolved around plot driven stories versus character driven stories.
For me, I'd come up with an idea and immediately dive into the plot, imagining what my characters would do in such a scenario.
For others, the characters strut into their mind larger than life and a plot develops from there.

As writers, we all have tried and true ways of doing things. You'll know if you're a plot or character driven writer; it's what comes easiest to you. That is, after you come up with an idea, which do you find easier, coming up with a plot or the characters?

So what happens when we shake things up a little?

Next time you have a gem of an idea, try this:

If you're a plot driven writer, let your characters drive the story.

If you're a character driven writer, play around with the plot first.

You'll be amazed at how a fresh approach can inject a bit of 'oomph' into your writing.
And we're always learning, right?

Ideally, every story we write needs to be character driven.
We want to create believable, real, compelling characters that keep readers turning pages long into the night.
And that comes back to motivation, mentioned in an earlier post.

Whether you're a plot or character driven writer, motivation is what drives our characters, what keeps them believable, what makes them leap of the page and into the readers' hearts.

But in the early stages, when that new, nebulous idea has shimmered into your mind, play around, shake things up and see where your gem can take you.

That's my 'write whisper' for this week.

THE WRITE WHISPER: Making your readers care

Welcome to a new series of writing tips, discussion and general blatherings as I traverse the wonderful world of publishing.

I'm hoping to make this a weekly weekend series though in all likelihood, I can see it featuring fortnightly...or maybe longer, we'll see how we go!

(And if you miss out on a post, you can see the lot in the sidebar link and on my website.)

So, how do we make our readers care?

The idea for this series was sparked while I was watching Prison Break this week.
This series is the best yet, with the writers giving every character motivation for their actions, no matter how nefarious.
But what really struck home was when I choked up over a former bad guy dying.
How did the writers do that?
How did they make me care enough about a 'baddie' to feel sorrow when he died?

Motivation.
It all comes down to this.
If you give your characters sufficient, believable motivation for their actions, readers will be behind them all the way.

How many times are you reading a book or watching a movie and enjoying it, only to be jolted out of the suspended reality by the character doing something completely out of character?
It jars.
It takes us out of the story.
It ruins our suspension of disbelief and makes us question everything about the remainder of the book/movie.

You don't want to do this to your readers.
You want them swept along in the story, so caught up in the characters' lives they absolutely must keep turning pages until they reach 'the end'...and leave them wanting more, particularly your next book!

A strong, real, believable motivation is gold.

That's my 'write whisper' for today.