Grieving for My Character: Guest Post by Tamera Kraft

I am happy to call Tamera Kraft my friend. She is smart and caring and a wonderful writer. I recently asked her to write this post for A Novel Creation. I know you will enjoy getting to know her here. And while you're at it, don't forget to check out her books. Her newest is a novella called Resurrection of Hope. To learn more about it or to make a purchase: Click HERE.

Grieving For My Character

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By Tamera Lynn Kraft

Have you ever cried during a movie or while reading a book because one of your favorite fictional characters died? If so, imagine the grieving process for us poor authors who not only created those characters but also had to kill them off.

One character in particular still causes a lump to rise to the back of my throat three years after writing his death scene. Joe was an honorable Christian slave before the Civil War. The daughter of his master was an abolitionist who was helping slaves escape to freedom. When a wicked man attacked her, Joe stepped in the way and was killed.

I was devastated. I had no idea Joe would do something so heroic to save my heroine. I cried for a week whenever I thought about it. My husband tried to console me explaining that Joe was a fictional character. Poor man didn’t understand, nor did he understand how I could be so upset about Joe dying when I was the one who wrote the scene. I tried to explain that I had no idea Joe was going to do such a thing, let alone be killed, until I wrote the scene. He just jumped in the way of the bullet. My husband is still shaking his head about that one. He’s not an author.

I went through all the stages of grief with Joe. First I couldn’t believe he’d done that. I didn’t plan on him being killed in my plot outline. Second I became rather irate. I am in charge. I’m the writer. How dare one of my characters go off and get himself killed without my permission. During the bargaining stage, I thought if I rewrite a few scenes, maybe I could save Joe. The depression stage is where I cried for a week and ate lots of chocolate. Finally I learned to accept Joe’s death even though I never really got over it.

In my newest novella, Resurrection of Hope, I also had to deal with the death of one of my characters, but I can’t tell you who. You’ll have to read the story. Fortunately this time, it didn’t come a surprise. Since I planned this death from the beginning, I had time to emotionally prepare, but the loss of any of my characters is never easy.

There is an exception. Evil characters who cause my protagonist heartache give me a certain amount of satisfaction when I kill them off in delightful ways. Ah, the life of a writer.

So when have you grieved over a fictional character’s death?

Tamera Lynn Kraft has always loved adventures. She loves to write historical fiction set in the United States because there are so many stories in American history. There are strong elements of faith, romance, suspense and adventure in her stories. She has received 2nd place in the NOCW contest, 3rd place TARA writer’s contest, and is a finalist in the Frasier Writing Contest and has other novellas in print. She’s been married for 37 years to the love of her life, Rick, and has two married adult children and two grandchildren.

Check out Tamera's website: http://tameralynnkraft.net 

From Namby-pamby to Devasting: Creating Scenes My Characters Can Survive

Over the past couple of months I’ve shared some of the lessons I’ve learned from James Scott Bell on structuring a story. I’m applying these pieces to my current work in progress. Today I want to explore one element I didn’t cover in the earlier posts and how I’ve modified it to meet my needs.

Scene Cards

My first experience with scene cards was in the drafting of my first novel, Breathing on Her Own. I once heard a successful author say the best way to draft a novel was to identify eight to ten scenes, create a storyboard based on those scenes and write, in essence from scene to scene. It worked for me in constructing my first draft. Of course the scenes changed as I came to know my characters and I added a few critical scenes as I traveled the path of my storyline.

Bell also uses scene cards. However, in his book, Super Structure:The Key to Unleashing the Power of Story, Bell gives the reader a glimpse of his own writing process. When an author of more than twenty-five books who is also well respected as a writing coach allows me in to peek over his shoulder to see how he writes, I pay attention. Bell creates fifty or more scenes before crafting his story. Will he use them all? Probably not but he has a large pool from which to draw creative juices while writing. The scene cards are viewed as a tool in brainstorming his story. He’ll sort them into acts and begin writing them to shape his novel.

My Attempt

I took a stab at describing fifty scenes and fell flat after about twenty-two. At first I felt like a failure. I know that a good novel is built around conflict. Conflict makes us turn the page. Conflict makes us root for the protagonist. Conflict makes us live life on the edge albeit vicariously through characters on a page. Scenes need to drive us forward in ever mounting conflict.

I took my twenty-two scene cards and sorted them by degree of conflict. Basically I sorted them into “stressful for my character,” “bad for my character,” and “devastating to my character.” I also had a few scenes that served a purpose but perhaps only hinted at conflict. I named that stack “breathing scenes.” As a reader, I need those moments to catch my breath. For the moment, I set the “breathing scenes” aside.

I looked at the remaining scenes and the types of conflict represented in each. Then I made sure I created additional scenes so each type of conflict was represented in each category of “degree of conflict.”

Let me give you an example. In my current work, I had scenes where Dottie argues with her son over his insistence of controlling her finances. Stressful? Yes. Her son has been helping to manage her finances for several years now. He does her taxes. She is ready to take charge of her own life. I asked myself how could this conflict with her son be ramped up?  How can I move his controlling nature from “stressful for my character” to the “bad” category?

I decided to have poor Dottie go through an IRS audit and discover some discrepancies. That sounds like a tough scene to me. I think she’ll sit there stunned when she realizes how much she owes the IRS. And it will take more than a financial toll. There is an emotional price to pay as well. Can she trust her son?

Hmm…I’m on a roll here so I create a scene where Dottie discovers her son is a gambler and has been shuffling funds all around to cover his mistakes. She stands to lose everything. So does he. This is “devastating.”

I’m probably too much of a Pollyanna to make all of that happen. I want Dottie and her son to have a solid relationship and he has those two sweet children…can I really make him that corrupt? Time will tell.

Lesson Learned

What I learned through the crafting of scene possibilities is that I indeed have options. If I created a story that was completely made up of those sweet namby-pamby “breathers,” I could market it as a sleep aid.

There needs to be a purpose for each scene and the scenes need to drive the story to a climax and conclusion. My characters need to accomplish something in each scene—good or bad. Because of the scene developing exercise, my story has taken a new direction. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Have you tried using scene cards? How did that work for you?

The Business of Writing a Novel: Building a Monetary Budget

The Cost of Writing

I once heard the story of a would-be writer who invested in all the gadgetry of the day to become successful. She even bought a top of the line typewriter. (Yes, this is a story from long ago.) Her husband encourages her even after the short stories she write are rejected time and again. One day he comes home to find her smiling broadly and waving a check. “My writing career finally paid off,” she tells him.

He picks her up and swings her around with joy. “What did you sell?” he asks.

“My typewriter,” she answers sweetly.

Of course I have no idea if that story is true or not. What I do know is that there is a monetary investment in writing. You need to be thoughtful about how you spend your money because unless you are the one in a billion to create a New York Times best seller your first time out, the returns on your initial investment will be minimal.

It is up to you as a professional to explore financial costs involved. In addition to writing materials, a computer, ink cartridges, pens, paper, index cards, and sticky notes, you’ll need a professional headshot, business cards, copies of your book to give away, envelopes and postage.

To name a few.

You will also need to plan for writing conferences so you can network with other writers, agents, publishers, and writing coaches. You’ll find yourself purchasing books, writer’s guidelines, subscriptions to helpful journals and more. If you are doing research for a book about a specific location, you may need to include travel expenses.

When Your Office is the Kitchen Table

Of course if your funds are limited to start, you will find creative ways to get the job done.

•      You’ll make your own business cards. 
•      You’ll use library resources instead of investing in the copies of books you need.
•        You’ll find a GroupOn coupon to get a snazzy headshot at a fraction of the cost (I speak form experience) AND…
•        You’ll write about places you know. Your next book may include travel. Not your first…unless of course you’ve already visited a particular area.

You may find a local conference to save you money on lodging or do as I did for my first conference and go for only two days. Was it ideal? No, but I made sure I got the most out of every minute and a little over a month later, I received my first book contract as a result of the second day of conferencing.

If you decide to publish the book yourself, you’ll need to hire a professional editor, allot monies for a professional book cover, and set aside funds for marketing your book.

Will it pay off? Maybe. Don’t quit your day job. Yet. One book will not likely bring in enough to pay the rent. Two books? Three? There is no magic number. It requires you to get readers to read your book, give it good honest reviews, and want more.

Many would-be authors underestimate the cost involved in the writing process. They often talk of “best sellers” and “big bucks.” If you want to write and get published, you need to budget both time (last week’s post) and money.

What do you think?

Note: This post is part of The Writer's Business Handbook No portion may be copied without permission.