{"id":970,"date":"2018-06-20T08:12:56","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T12:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/?p=970"},"modified":"2018-06-20T08:12:56","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T12:12:56","slug":"stepping-it-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/20\/stepping-it-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping It Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is going to be an unusual post. On March 28, 2018, Carley Anne wrote, There\u2019s a part of my manuscript that\u2019s been bothering me: much of the drive for my story (though not all), is that there\u2019s a supposed legend which gives a date for when certain things will be \u2018ended.\u2019 Some characters believe in the legend, others do not; we don\u2019t know the truth until the end of the story–but whether the legend is real or no, my antagonist believes it, so therefore, everyone has no choice but to act. How do I make a legend believable? Without smoke and mirrors (and some old, wise, stereotypical cloaked guy rasping the legend\u2019s words through the darkness, if you know what I mean). There are supernatural beings in my fictional world, and they are the first to hear of said legend, but I\u2019ve been looking for ways to reveal bits and pieces to the readers, so that it\u2019s believable, and straightforward. As far as legends go.<\/em><\/p>\n

You responded so well and thoroughly that I have little to add, so I\u2019m going to reprise the responses, put in a few thoughts of my own, and move on the a second question.<\/p>\n

Angie: Maybe you could show signs that the legend could be true by having certain aspects of it line up with real-life events? Events that could be explained away, but also seem to carry the weight of prophecy to those who believe, i.e. a storm or an eclipse bringing darkness, or a kingdom whose rulers and heirs cannot survive past a certain age (perhaps due to a hereditary disease, OR, due to a curse\/legend that seems to<\/em> be coming to pass) or something to that effect. Something like this could make a legend seem real enough to sway many people into believing it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Raina: Ditto what Angie said about having certain aspects match up with real events. If people think \u201clook the prophecy is right about x and y, it\u2019s probably going to be right about z too,\u201d they\u2019ll probably believe it. In addition, you could also make the terms either general enough or metaphorical enough that anything could be interpreted as fulfilling it. For example, if a prophecy says something like \u201ca dragon shall sit on the throne,\u201d it could mean a literal dragon (like in Terry Pratchett\u2019s book GUARDS! GUARDS!), a monarch whose house sigil is a dragon (like the Targaryans in Game of Thrones), somebody with a draconian personality, or just somebody named \u201cDragon\u201d. I think any of these explanations would seem logical, especially if people are thinking about it after it occurs. There\u2019s something in psychology called Hindsight Bias (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hindsight_bias<\/a>) in which people tend to see past events as predictable, despite no evidence. I think that effect would be especially strong in the context of a prophecy, and it wouldn\u2019t take a lot to make people go \u201cyep, the prophecy definitely predicted that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, does your antagonist have any particular reason for believing the prophecy? If they believe it because they want it to be true, they might also be affected by confirmation bias (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Confirmation_bias<\/a>) and perceive every little thing as a sign of the prophecy. I think as long as your characters truly believe in the prophecy and act accordingly, your reader will too. You could reveal bits of the prophecy to the reader by having some characters mention bits and pieces of the prophecy (like: \u201coh, hey, a red sun rises, just like it said in the legend) and maybe even discussing\/arguing about it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bethany: The legend could give some precursor proof (you know, things the legend says will happen before the rest of it starts), such as a lightning storm taking out a major building or the royal baby dying, that could all be happening. That would give the readers that little sneaking fear of \u2018is this actually going to happen?\u2019 Or a few of the smaller things the legend says will end could actually get ended. Then the legend would seem to be starting to come true, if any of this makes sense to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

My turn: We might add weight to the legend through corroborating evidence, as often happens when scientific ideas become confirmed, as in physics, when particles are observed to behave in a way that bears out a new theory. In our story, a scroll might be discovered that revels the credible origins of the legend. Or an ancient civilization might be excavated. Their urns are decorated with scenes from the legend.<\/p>\n

Or the belief of a respected character can give weight to the legend. If Gandalf, for example, believes it, this reader (me) would be sure it must be true.<\/p>\n

Of course, we have to keep our eye on the truth that only we know: the factual or fictitious nature of the legend. We want to be sure that we have the balance right between belief and doubt in the minds of our characters and our readers, because we want the eventual reveal to work.<\/p>\n

On to the next question. If anyone responded to this one, I missed it, and I apologize.<\/p>\n

On April 12, 2018, Enchanted wrote: I\u2019m in the middle of writing a trilogy (eek!) and I\u2019m a little stumped. The story is based on “Snow White,” except it involves vampires. Basically, Snow White starts off as a pampered princess (her father spoils her) and she has a best friend, this young prince from the neighboring kingdom who has slowly become\u2026more than a friend. He visits her during the summer but lives in his own country most of the time, so they mostly communicate by letter. Snow White\u2019s father brings home his new wife; aforementioned evil stepmother murders him, and Snow White gets framed for it. She escapes prison, but the evil queen shuts down all the roads out of the country, so the only way to get out is through a forest full of vampires. The vampires catch her, but they\u2019re really running this resistance movement against the queen, so they want to help Snow White. One of the vampires is really young and handsome, and Snow White starts falling in love with him (by the end of the trilogy, she has to choose either her best friend or the hot vampire\u2013no spoilers!). Eventually, the evil queen figures out she\u2019s hiding in the forest and sends some bad guys to kill Snow White. One of the men stabs her, but the vampires bite her back to life and then she becomes one of them. Then they set off for the castle where her best friend lives, because they need his army to overthrow the queen. That\u2019s the end of Book 1.<\/em><\/p>\n

My problem is with the pacing; the middle of the story slouches for me (I think Gail calls this the \u201csagging middle\u201d). Because for several chapters, they\u2019re holed up in a cottage in the woods. Of course there\u2019s all this romance going on with Snow White and the handsome vampire, but I feel like there\u2019s not enough meat to the middle of the story and not enough motivation for them to just sit around in this cottage when there\u2019s an urgent need to get to the other country. And I need time to pass somehow, because there has to be enough time for them to fall in love and also some crazy stuff needs to happen in the capital with the evil queen while they\u2019re gone.<\/em><\/p>\n

Any suggestions would be appreciated! (I know, it\u2019s a tricky one!)<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about this in my own WIP, my historical novel about the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. You\u2019d think it would be all action and danger, but I\u2019m including some of the lead-up to the expulsion, which historically took at least a hundred years, though I\u2019m covering only the final nine. For most of that time, my MC, Cima, is safe. Terrible things are happening, but she\u2019s protected by her prominent, wealthy Jewish family. I often found myself struggling to stay awake. To wake myself up, I listed whatever I could think of that makes trouble for Cima. You can do the same. Here\u2019s what I mean:<\/p>\n

\u2219 I\u2019ve introduced family conflict in the form of a hysterical mother and an evil brother. Cima hates discord, and she suffers. That livens things up! Discord is an item on my list. Applying this to Enchanted\u2019s story, is all sweetness and light among the vampires in the cottage? If not, how do their problems affect Snow White? Can she be in actual danger? Even when they leave the cottage the negative emotions can bubble up when the plot has to slow down.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Cima loves children and, from the beginning of the book when she\u2019s seven, what she wants most is to be a mother someday. This is another item on my list. I keep threatening Cima\u2019s most cherished desire. For example, the evil brother reveals what her horoscope said when she was born, and the signs were not auspicious for motherhood. I\u2019m not sure what Snow White wants (she can want more than one thing), but whatever it is might be can be brought to the fore and made unlikely.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Jews during this period were sometimes baptized by force, though Church policy didn\u2019t approve. Once baptized, even forcibly, people weren\u2019t allowed to go back to the old religion. Cima fears baptism, and I bring this fear in sometimes when my story slows. So what does Snow White fear, and what does she want? Can that fear and that desire be awakened in the cottage?<\/p>\n

\u2219 Cima is her grandfather\u2019s favorite, which also causes conflict. Other family members are jealous, and he\u2019s demanding. For Enchanted, can the romance create stress in the cottage? Might the romance itself get bumpy sometimes?<\/p>\n

The overarching strategy is to look around at our plot and our characters to find threads we can exploit when the going gets tedious. We can give our MC personality buttons that go off when pushed. Ditto for other characters. We can give her desires that can be frustrated during quiet times as well as during big action scenes.<\/p>\n

Here are three prompts:<\/p>\n

\u2219 Your characters are trapped in a mine. This can be a reality-based mine or a fantasy one, possibly created by dwarves. For the moment, they\u2019re safe, and you want them to stay that way for long enough to introduce them all, and you want the reader to stay awake. Using the strategies above, or any others that you think of, write this stuck part of the story. If you like, keep going and write the whole thing.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Your MC is on the road in a rock band. Keep things tense on the trip from New York City to Miami. Write the journey.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Snow White (without vampires) is new to living with the dwarves. The evil queen hasn\u2019t discovered where she is yet. Make the interval until she does tense, even though the dwarves mean her well.<\/p>\n

Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is going to be an unusual post. On March 28, 2018, Carley Anne wrote, There\u2019s a part of my manuscript that\u2019s been bothering me: much of the drive for my story (though not all), is that there\u2019s a supposed legend which gives a date for when certain things will be \u2018ended.\u2019 Some characters believe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[291],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":971,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions\/971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}