Wicked Wednesday - playing telephone

Do you remember that children's game? Everyone sat in a circle. The first child whispered something into the next person's ear and the next person whispered it to a third child. As the phrase or word was passed on, it became garbled. Usually the message the last child received was nothing like the original. It was a lot of fun.

Things like that happen in our every day adult lives too. A word is forgotten in a text or a bit of gossip is misunderstood. It's a perfect tool to twist your plot. Send your protagonist to the wrong address or cause an explosive fight because of a mixed up message.

It's also a great way to trick the reader. What did the protagonist's lover really mean by that note? If the protagonist thinks the worst, so will the reader.

Simple children's games are a huge part of our fictional worlds. Games we all played as kids like hide-and-seek. A lot of horror stories have someone hiding from the stalking bad guy. Piggy in the Middle will have characters keeping something valuable away from someone. What about Hot Potato? I don't want the cursed ring, you have it. No, I don't want it! You have it. It gets passed back and forth, round and round. When the time is up, poor bloke that has the cursed ring is cooked.

What children's games do you see adult versions of frequently in stories?

One down

I finished the first draft of my first short story of the year last night. I cheered myself and hugged my muse. I was exhausted after taking care of my husband and son, but I pushed myself to get the story finished. It's those times when you really work that you feel the best about having finished something.

I didn't know how the story would end, but it all made sense when I finally got there. Ooh, that's what happened! Now I have to go through and add in the subtle clues, hints for the reader and my protagonist. I hope the twist is as surprising for my readers as it was for me. I always worry about plot twists. Am I clever as my muse? I hope I'm doing her justice.

I have two days to revise it and send it in to be critiqued at my next writers' group meeting on the 14th. The anthology I want to send it to doesn't have a deadline, but I have to take my chances that it doesn't fill up within the next few weeks while I polish it up.

I have discovered that since I posted my goals for the world to see, I push myself more. I have an audience and I don't like to disappoint. I think I'll create a gadget for the sidebar that keeps a tally of what I've written, submitted, revised, and queried this year. Just a little extra kick for me to get everything done. Do you push yourself harder knowing you have people watching your progress?

NaNoWriMo 2011 - day 9

Word count: 20303

I wanted to get a little further today, but I'm exhausted. I planned on reaching 25000 tomorrow, but that would take a big rush in the little time I have. I'll give it that old NaNo try! Even if I don't make it, I know I'm still doing well.

I had intended this to be a slow burning paranormal romance. Boy, is it slow. 20000 words and only a little cuddling going on. I want this to be more about the emotional journey, but, geez, this is slow for me. Yet I hope the story is still interesting to keep the reader reading.

One of my secondary characters has decided he wants to become more involved in the plot. He's campaigning to be another love interest. My protagonist isn't the type to just fall for someone she's only known for a few days. She's not that trusting. It makes more sense for her to fall for her friend and confidante. Yet then that totally messes up the main arc of my plot! I guess I'll see where the story takes me.

Oh! Maybe I can kill him off. BWUHAHAHAHA! I quite like that idea. Dammit and I liked him.

Wicked Wednesday - happily ever after

I know fans of romance love the Happily Ever After ending (HEA). Most publishers require the author to have it. It might be predictable, but it sells. Readers want to escape their lives and experience that HEA moment. They want the reassurance and familiarity of it.

The trick is to write the HEA in a way that is unexpected. Girl will get the Boy at the end, but how? It doesn't always have to end with marriage and kids. The reader just needs to be emotionally satisfied.

Paranormal romance opens the door to all sorts of ways to do the unexpected. Use the genre to create something that will surprise the reader. Magic, strange creatures, or mysterious non-human past resurfacing. You're not limited by conventional reality. Only what you've created for yourself.

A few examples:
1) Your protagonist is a ghost. It's known that once a ghost completes his/her unfinished business, their soul will go on to the next life. How to get a HEA ending from that? Perhaps the business really isn't finished yet. Or maybe the love interest dies and they can go on to the afterlife together.
2) Your protagonist is in love with a werewolf. Pack members are forbidden to take a human mate. Have the werewolf challenge the law and win. Or discover that the protagonist isn't fully human after all.
3) The Romeo and Juliet affair between a demon and an angel. That can't end well, right? Have the demon sacrifice him/herself for the angel and be resurrected an angel. Or have them find out that it was the plan all along to have demons and angels mate because they cannot do so amongst their own kinds.

Sometimes I have problems trying to write an unexpected twist. This is why I don't write mysteries even though I enjoy them. Those are the times I do a lot of procrastinating. Plot twist generators online never helped. (Yes, there are plot twist generators!) I have to wait for the inspiration to hit me. I tend to kill a lot of my darlings and let magic be born out of the sacrifice for a HEA. I need to learn a new trick.

I like the HEA ending, but I don't need it to be happy with a book. If it has a proper resolution even if it's sad, I can be satisfied with it.

Do you prefer a HEA ending? Do you have any tricks that you use for creating twists to surprise your reader?