Let's talk villains and heroes

cj Sez: Let’s talk about how to write a “real” villain. The antagonist, like the protagonist, needs a yen and a yang to be a whole person—i.e., a personality where seemingly opposite forces may be complementary, where, together, the dual personalities make the whole.

The yin yang symbol is often referred to as "taijitu"
 —a Chinese symbol that represents the interconnection of two opposites.

  Captivating stories require that both protagonist and antagonist need some kind of flaw to make the characters interesting. Perhaps the villain’s flaw is that s/he is not thoroughly evil but hides some spark of sympathetic “good” inside. Maybe s/he sends money to an animal rescue shelter because of the memory of a cherished childhood pet. Or the antagonist supports an invalid mother with the money earned from doing evil deeds. 

  Like the protagonist, the antagonist needs motivation, a goal, and some psychological reason for that motivation. A perfect villain is the same thing as a perfect hero, a cartoon of a character. You have to ask the same questions of the antagonist that you do of the protagonist; the questions that lead to the plot and theme: What does s/he want, why, and what will s/he do to reach the goal?

  Maybe s/he wants to do something as benign as to cause a little family ruckus in order to get attention. Or maybe s/he wants to kill someone. But why? The answer to that is what helps to give the character dimension as s/he pushes toward their goal.

  Depending on how involved they are in the story, it follows that tertiary characters require a bit of similar development.

  Authors really have to know their characters. I write little bios for all my characters, including the villain. When I’ve created their background worlds, I know what makes them tick, how they will react, and what they will say in the situation I create. Their backgrounds are never inserted as an info dump, though pieces and bits may surface during their dialogues. Knowing my characters inside and out also helps me develop deep point of view scenes.

  As readers, what do you expect from the characters? As writers, how do you get to know your characters?

§§

  In last week’s post, LP wrote about author brands. Mobile author Carrie Dalby has such a signature brand. She writes Southern Gothic stories, incorporating the historic architecture of Mobile, Alabama, in her settings. Her latest effort is ALLIANCE: WASHINGTON SQUARE SECRETS 2, which launches on Tuesday, December 5…it’s available for pre-order through your favorite bookstore/app.

  Carrie says: “ALLIANCE is a fast-paced paranormal Southern Gothic as opposed to the slower pace of my family sagas. There is a new cast of diverse characters, as well as a few familiar faces and locations. I hope you'll find time during this holiday season to read. The main section of the book is set December 1912-January 1913 with Christmas and New Year's scenes.”

§§

  A book signing is in your future should you choose to stop by The Haunted Book Shop on Dec. 8, from 6 p.m.to 8 p.m. during Mobile’s LoDa Art Walk. Local authors, Rebecca Barrett and Carrie Dalby are being featured, so if you’re in the Mobile, AL, area, you are cordially invited to stop by and say “hey!”

§§

  Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for a happy and safe you and yours.

cj

Now some words from my sponsors:

  Christmas is THE gift-giving holiday of the year, and books are always great suggestions for gifts—they don’t require daily watering, they’re not fattening, and they are very easy to wrap, even two or three at a time. 

  I have stories in several anthologies with Christmas as the theme. Here are two to put on your shopping list:

Christmas Through a Child’s Eyes

  This anthology has 70 stories written by adults recounting their extraordinary childhood Christmas memories. 

  Written under my maiden name of Marilyn Olsein, my short story is titled “Dancing with Daddy,” and relates how, after a major upheaval in our lives, six-year-old me reconnected with the Swedish father I could no longer understand.  The anthology is free on Kindle.  Buy Now   

§§

FINALLY HOME brings you eight Christmas stories all about our four-legged friends and the special people who rescue them. From funny, to sad, to romantic, there’s something here to tug at everyone’s heart strings. 

  My short story, "Puppy Love," is included.

  Buy Button:: 

* Price Increase Alert:  My novels, THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA will be going up in price on Jan 1, 2024. Right now, they are priced at only $2.99.

  The novels are fast-paced, thriller/suspense stories with sassy banter and a smidgen of romance. The books are available on Amazon or through your favorite eTailer and bookstore. Got a library card? You can read the ebooks free from Hoopla.

  Little note: Angela Trigg, the RITA Award-winning author and owner of The Haunted Book Shop has a few signed copies of my paperback books in stock. TO ORDER, contact: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us  

  If she happens to be sold out, shoot me an email. I have a small stash (with a discounted price plus shipping).

 

➜ Follow me on . . .  
➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page
➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

A termination clause and new launches

cj Sez: In the did-you-know department:

There are only two English words that use all the vowels in the correct order.  Do you know what they are?   (Answer at the bottom of this post.)

Important publishing contract information available at Writers in the Storm blog:  

What to Look for in “Out of Print” Termination Clauses

By Guest Blogger  Susan Spann

The “out of print” clause is often one of an author’s only ways to terminate a publishing contract unilaterally (a legal term that means “one-sided”—and, in this case, means the author’s right to terminate without the publisher’s consent).

 Out of print clauses are not relevant to self-publishing, and should never appear in self-publishing terms of use.

Read the rest of her post here: http://writersinthestormblog.com/2017/08/what-to-look-for-in-out-of-print-termination-clauses/

Susan Spann is a California transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing law and business, and is also the author of the Hiro Hattori (Shinobi) mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo. 

***

Watch for these great, new reads . . .  

•   

Day of the Dark - There’s a total solar eclipse doing a cross-wise thing across North America on August 21…observe it with the proper solar sunglasses to save your eyesight, please…  but the anthology from Kaye George for which you may only need reading glasses, is available now.  (P.S. The next total solar eclipse to cross North America won’t happen until April 8, 2024, so don’t wait to order.)

Novel blurb: “A recipe for disaster: take one total solar eclipse, add two dozen spine-chilling mysteries, and shake the reader until the world ends in Day of the Dark!” 

Available from Westside Press at  http://bit.ly/2w1zJsT

And from Amazon at  http://amzn.to/2vtI7k3

•   Trouble in Dixie (Familiar Legacy Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Rebecca Barrett  (Author)

Novel blurb:  OLD MONEY AND FRESH MURDER -- Trouble, a savvy black cat with a penchant for sleuthing, has landed in the cream of Savannah society. So has a murderer and art thief. 

This is book 2 in a new series written by multiple authors who follow the antics of super-sleuth Trouble as he lands in first one crime scene then another. Of course, the humans help a little. These romantic mysteries are fun and light hearted and just perfect for a beach read or a rainy day.

E-book launch date August 14, available from Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2vpjkuy

(A reader of an advance review copy has already given this novel a 5-Star review.)

•   California Bound - For a chance to win a prize, mark your calendar to stop by the CALIFORNIA BOUND Launch Party on Aug 16, 8-9:30 PM at http://www.facebook.com/CABoundBook/   Prizes include Amazon Cards, jewelry, and books.

Novel blurb: Lawmen won’t … The Cavalry can’t … 2 Civil War veterans wade the Rio Bravo to find a stolen girl!  In a Union POW camp, Jeb & Zach dreamed of California Gold, but the road West leads Jeb to his sis's home in Texas.

Jeb & Zach are God-fearing, hard-working, honest Southern boys--if you don’t count stealing Gen. Sherman’s horse.

Available from Amazon at http://amzn.to/2vZtIxL

 ***

And just because I love the rendition of this Allison Krauss song on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDzSif77IVQdY&v=1BPoMIQHwpo

"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."  - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

ANSWER to did-you-know

Abstemious

Facetious

Okay, that’s all for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

Read on for a brief word from my sponsors: NOW ON AMAZON: Amazing, super-duper deals for your summer romance reading.  A Crimson Romance bundle of novels about athletes and the sports they love, Bodies in Motion, includes my novel, Choosing Carter.  10 wonderful reads for 99 cents on Amazon  Plus More Than Friends and California Kisses romance bundles are still available also at 99-cents.

My “Bad Day at Round Rock” short story is in The Posse anthology @ http://amzn.to/2lQRvcD  (8 short Western stories, still at 99 cents)

cjpetterson/author on Facebook    

Amazon Central Author Page      Simon&Schuster Author Page   

blog at: www.lyricalpens.com

newsletter sign-up at cjpetterson@gmail.com

Introducing new novels . . .

cj Sez:  Carolyn Haines’s Familiar Legacy Mystery Series hosted a Facebook launch party July 14 (Flag Day and Bastille Day).

For the few who don’t know her, Carolyn Haines is the USA Today bestselling author of more than 70 books. She is a recipient of the Harper Lee Award for Distinguished Writing and the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence, as well as the "Best Amateur Sleuth" award by Romantic Times. Haines writes in a number of genres, from cozy mystery to horror and short fiction. She got her start in publishing in romantic mysteries with one savvy black cat detective called Familiar. She's delighted to bring back the first Familiar stories—and to introduce Trouble, son of Familiar, in a delightful new Familiar Legacy series which will feature a number of talented authors (and cat lovers!).

Books in the Familiar Legacy Series are:

Bk 1 Familiar Trouble by Carolyn Haines launched July 10 and is available on Amazon.

Bk 2 Trouble in Dixie by author Rebecca Barrett has a launch date of August 14 and is available now for pre-order on Amazon 

Rebecca Barrett writes historical fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction (writing as Campbell O’Neal), children’s stories, and short stories of life in the South. An avid reader all her life and a product of “front porch” socializing, she became a story-teller at an early age. Trouble in Dixie features that handsome, sleek, black cat detective, Trouble.

Bk 3 Trouble in Tallahassee by Claire Matturro is scheduled to launch September 12

Bk 4 Trouble at Summer Ranch by Susan Tanner will launch in October.

More new titles in the series are scheduled to launch in 2018.

***

In other publishing news, the publisher for “Bad Day at Round Rock,” my historical fiction short story in The Posse anthology, has co-written another Western novel. California Bound, co-authored by John O’Melveny Woods and Frank Kelso, is being introduced in two steps. The cover reveal is scheduled for July 19, 8 to 9 p.m. CDT on Facebook . . . https://www.facebook.com/CABoundBook/

The novel is scheduled to launch on August 16 also at 8 p.m. CDT with an interactive Facebook party. The launch comes complete with prizes. Be sure to stop by and leave a comment for a chance to win. Here’s a trailer snippet for California Bound: http://snip.ly/40nlr 

***

One of the blogs I follow is that of author/editor/blogger-supreme Hope Clark at   http://www.fundsforwriters.com  Her “Funds for Writers” blog has been on the Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers list every year since 2001. Anyway, to quote Hope:

“Writing well takes time. It isn't an instinct. You are not born with it. You do not accidentally write a stupendous tale. You develop this talent with hard work and a crazy number of hours invested in making your craft better.”

That means all writers, but especially aspiring writers, need to participate in workshops, critique groups, conferences, and read relentlessly in the genre they write. Before a writer can develop his/her own writing voice, s/he must read the good works of other published authors.

To inspire you to look at your own work-in-progress, I’ll leave you with one of Elmore (Dutch) Leonard’s famous first lines: 

“Chris Mankowski's last day on the job, two in the afternoon, two hours to go, he got a call to dispose of a bomb.”—Freaky Deaky (1988)

That’s all for today, folks. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

PS: Click on the highlighted book titles for the buy link. 

A word from my sponsors:

NOW ON AMAZON:  A really amazing, super-duper deal for your summer romance reading.  A Crimson Romance bundle of 10 novels about athletes and the sports they love, Bodies in Motion, includes my novel, Choosing Carter.  10 wonderful reads for 99 cents on Amazon  Other ebook bundles still available on Amazon:  More Than Friends and California Kisses 

 “Bad Day at Round Rock” short story in The Posse anthology

cjpetterson/author on Facebook    

Simon&Schuster Author Page     Amazon Central Author Page

blog at: www.lyricalpens.com

newsletter sign-up at cjpetterson@gmail.com