Tuesday's Troy Boys

We are having another hero week here on the blog. This week it’s Men in Uniforms. Now because I’m writing an historical novel for NaNo I thought I’d go with that theme so to speak hence the heading Tuesday’s Troy Boys. LOL. And who better than to start my pictures off with than three men in dresses.

The other week on the ROMAUS loop we were discussing the Alpha hero and what makes them an Alpha Hero. Let’s face it we all love the Alpha hero in a story, the one that stands out from the rest, the one that gets our hearts racing. We may not always like them to start with but by the end of a good book we are heads over heels just like the heroine.


There is one thing that most authors agree on and that is that the Alpha hero has to have as sense of honour and no matter how arrogant he may be we need to show just a glimpse of the tender side early in the story.

In his time Charlton Heston was one of the most popular actors of the day and not just with the women but also the men. The reason I think he was so well liked was because he gave each of his roles that real male quality.

In 'Ben Hur' he took us on the ride of our life and not just because of the chariot race. Plus I bet he had many a woman's heart racing with his short skirt and muscles.









Now I have to admit that Kirk Douglas is not one of my favourite actors but he like Charlton was big in his day and had women swooning for him especially in this get up.


I often wonder what it is about the hero’s in the movies that draws us to them. Is it the actor playing the part?

Or is the way the writer has written the part? Have you ever read a book and visualised the hero a certain way only to have it made into a movie and have your vision blow to pieces? Or had two different actors play the part and think yeah he looks more like the hero?




Now here's an example Kirk Douglas played the hero in 'Spartacus' yet to me he didn't seem to fit (Okay
so I've already said I wasn't a fan and that could have a lot to do with it) but Goran Visnjic Now he is my idea of Spartacus.

Then we have the actors of today (yes I know Goran is an actor of today as well) that have played the roles of heroes in the times of the Roman empire. Russell Crowe (also not a big fan of Russell's so glad he didn't do Australia with Nicole sorry got of track) he pulled the hero off so well in 'Gladiator'. Plus if you ignored the voice and head the body looked great. LOL. (Sorry again had a bitchy moment).








Now on to the Troy boys. Orlando Bloom well as far as I'm concerned Orlando can be a hero of mine any day. I loved Orland in 'Troy' but I loved him more in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.







Now I know some of you think Brad is a bit sissy to be a hero but you have to admit that six pack is well worth looking at. You know I can't help liking Brad as a hero in 'Legends of the Fall' he was great, I loved his role in 'Meet Joe Black' and 'The Devil's Own'. In 'Sleepers' he was fantastic, okay I have to admit I'm a brad fan.










Than we have our own Eric Bana. Who would have thought all those years ago when he was taking off 'Mr Perfect Hair Ray Martin' that Eric Bana would turn the heads of women all over the world as a hero. He plays his roles with such ease, I watched him in 'The Other Boleyn Girl' a couple of months back and thought he was great. Okay, I'm not sure Henry the eighth looked this good but I bet he was up their doing a little dance when Eric was cast to play him.
In 'Troy' he played the role just as well. Hero material all the way.



So what sort of hero do you write? Is he strong, arrogant, self absorbed, does he show any kink in his armour?


Sandie

Serious case of Nano brain

I'm not referring to the Nano brain created by scientists.

I'm referring to the state of my brain while participating in Nanowrimo.

This week has been particularly laughable. Forgetting lots of stuff, buying the wrong stuff, and becoming extremely sleep-deprived. (Why oh why does my creativity really kick in near midnight?) But I think the highlight of the week was arriving at work to be informed politely by my podpal that my shirt was on inside out. LOL.

Another symptom of Nano brain is wanting to talk about what your characters are up to at any given moment. Now writers understand. Non-writers really do not get that your characters are as real to you as any other human in the room (and sometimes realer). And there's another symptom of Nano brain - making up words. Because at the moment, when you are aiming for 50ks in a month, a near-enough word will hold the place until November passes and you can go back and edit.

So, fellow writers, what symptoms of Nano brain are you displaying?

PS. Today is Day 15 of Nano. We're halfway through the challenge, though you may not be halfway through your wordage. But that's okay. There's still time to catch up. I will be out celebrating tonight with my writers group. We've celebrating our 20th anniversary and the launch of our anthology. Why don't you have a Nano celebration tonight as well?

Saggy Middle

Firstly, a big congrats to all of you for doing such a great job so far. The word counts are looking really impressive. Even if it isn't going as well as you would want (like me) hang in there because every word written is one more closer to completing your ms.

With the middle of the month (and hopefully the middle of your ms) looming, I thought it might be a good time to raise the issue of the saggy middle.

Following is an extract from an article titled "Avoiding the Saggy Middle" by Cathy Witlox, an editor at Harlequin:

The middle is where it can be hard to keep momentum going. You need to ask yourself these questions:

1. Are your characters growing, or have they remained the same?
2. Have you shown why heroine and hero would fall in love?
3. Have you woven in subplots that you introduced earlier on or have you abandoned some, leaving questions?

You shouldn't work backwards to rectify anything you've missed - make notes on things you have to weave into your story and do it at the end of writing.

Good Dialogue

I've been scrolling through all my bookmarked pages to find information on dialogue. It's something that's a work in progress for me. I find that at times my dialogue flows and other times it's sooo stilted. So I thought that maybe I'd find some experts to tell us how to do this.

Condensing Back Story

by Elizabeth Rose

Instead of using narration to tell tons of back story, let your characters do it for you through dialogue. It makes it much more interesting, plus it gives the characters a chance to develop.

For example, in her book Eden’s Garden, author Elizabeth Rose combined a bit of narration with the use of dialogue of Eden Ramirez, the heroine, and her dying father to tell of their relationship.

“Papa . . . don’t die,” Eden said in her native tongue.

She took his large hand in hers and rubbed it softly against her cheek. He was so unlike the hardened professor who had come from the States year after year to study the Incan ruins of Machu Pichhu, hoping to find some uncovered truth or hidden treasure of the ancient culture that was destroyed so many years ago.

“I wanted to marry your mother – really,” he whispered through his ragged breathing. “I’m sorry. I wish I could have been the father you needed.”

Even if you didn’t know Eden was half Peruvian and lived far from her American father, you could see the distance of their past in their words. Her words show us she has feelings for him and doesn’t want to lose him. His words show most the back story. We find out he has never married her mother, he’s sorry about, and obviously had feelings for the woman, but something didn’t work out. He knows he hasn’t been a good father or there for his daughter, and we see his guilt as well. So, in just a few sentences, we find out what may have taken a page to tell about the back story.

Dazzling Dialogue Tips
by Alicia Rasley

Keep it short: 3-4 lines between " ", then insert an action, change speakers, switch to a quick thought. This creates more white space, suggests more movement, forces you to be cogent and quick.

Keep it snappy: This is conversation, not a lecture. Go for demand-reply, stimulus-
response... aim for conflict within the conversation. SHOW the conflict by snapping
back and forth. They don't have to be vicious as long as they can interrupt each other.

Keep it active: Watch the static conflict, where they keep arguing about the same thing over and over in the conversation. Pick out the best exchange that shows that conflict, and then at the end of that exchange, start something new, open a new angle on the subject, bring up something they haven't yet considered, have a speaker change tactics.
"You never listen to me!"
She sighed. "Right. Then how come I know exactly what you're going to say next? If I never listen to you?"
"What? What am I going to say next?"
"You're going to say that no one listens to you. You say that every time."
He started to protest, then paused and regarded her balefully. "Okay. So sometimes
you listen to me. You never do anything about it! It's even worse! You listen to me,
hear what I'm saying, know what I mean, and then you do nothing! You don't even
care!"
"Oh, yeah! And no one cares!" She laughed. "And here's my cue, right? I'm supposed to assure you I care, and show you by doing whatever it is you insist that I do. Well, the hell with it. I'm tired of it. I quit. You're right. I don't care. No one cares. No one gives a tinker's damn about you. You've been right all along about that."

Wednesday's Writing Wrap-up!

Can you see that? Talk about castles in the sky! This is where I've been and why my Wednesday post is late. This is Genting in the Highlands of Malaysia. It's in the clouds, literally. This was taken on the drive up the mountain at about 2pm and yes, it was damn cold! I live in Singapore, I don't like the cold. I coped only because there are lots of indoor things to do. Like shopping! Sitting and having a hot chocolate, going to the indoor theme park, the outdoor theme park or the casino. It was a great get away and I even managed to get some words written.

I have no idea where my word count stands, I do know I'm over the halfway mark but I won't know my exact amount until I finish typing in all the longhand stuff I wrote while away. It was actually kind of nice to get away from the computer and write. At one point I was sitting in Starbucks with their computers not ten feet away and I could have easily gone over and gotten on one but I didn't. I sat with my pen and notepad and wrote. Hubby's laptop wouldn't let me open any of my file on the USB I'd brought with me so I'd started the longhand on the six hour bus ride from Singapore to Genting. It was actually quite liberating not looking at a word count every few seconds. I'm thinking of taking notepad and pen downstairs more often.

So how is everyone doing? Are your stories flowing or are you just hammering out words and hoping for the best? I'm writing out of order. I wrote a scene last night that comes at the end of DUC and one that comes somewhere in the middle of RHI. *sigh* I guess I'll be piecing them together. I'm not sure where these two stories will end up or what their word counts will be but because they cross over I'm classing them as one story for Nano. It's probably cheating but at this point I don't care because the words are coming and they're good.

RC

Tuesday's Tip

Here we are part way through Week Two, and things begin to get interesting. For me, I normally start to wonder if the story is any good. Okay this year I’ve known from day one it was crap, but never the less I’ve continued to write.

That is the key for this week keep writing, it is so easy to think this is dribble, crap and why bother. The answer is, because it is the First Draft; call it ‘The Ugly Duckling’ effect. From this first ugly draft will bloom a beautiful story that everyone is going to want to read. (That’s what I’m telling myself. LOL.) Just keep telling yourself the Swan will be born. After November you’ll put this aside for a few months and go back with fresh eyes and craft your story into the Swan story.

Here is the tip for day 11 from ‘No Plot? No Problem! Novel-Writing Kit.

Day 11:

Bathe Your Imagination.

Among the weird places where writers find inspiration, the shower is one of the more common. “Your body is totally relaxed and your mind is totally relaxed,” says Ray Bradbury of his trips to the steamy plot chamber, “then the little explosions, the little revelations come.’

Spend some time today investigating those places and situations that allow your mind plenty of room to wander -- a walk, a bike ride, standing in line at the bank – and soak in the literary results.

I’ve started to put each days quote up on my normal blog here if you want to read them.

Happy writing.
Sandie

The crazy lady has returned...

It sounds like there has been a lot going on since I've been away!

I really hate missing out on all the action. I'm an action kinda gal... well, not really. My fingers get all the action! Hang on, that doesn't sound good. I mean, I get ACTION, I just... oh, forget it! :-)

Anyway, what I want to say is that you are all powering along, and I'm very proud of you. It's great to see you are all reaching your targets.

I am going to spend the next week working hard to catchup and build my word count up to a respectable level. I will focus on my writing, and forget that there aren't many weeks left until CHRISTMAS. Heavens! I have to start shopping soon. Don't tell me there may be Christmas sales during November? Why did they make NaNoWriMo in November?!

By the way, had the pleasure of meeting Anita Mack whilst in QLD. We are living weird parallel lives! Hi EJ!

Don't have much to share NaNo wise. Pretty useless post, but I am the Monday person!

Off I go to work my ms into shape!!