I've decided after going through the first five letters of the alphabet that a lot of what I'm saying is also true for other genre. Just sayin'. ;-)
Now, on to EFFORT!
There are a lot of different angles I could take this, so let's see if I can keep my verbage focused, shall I?
We aren't going to focus on the effort of writing the book because let's face it...we ALL know how much effort that takes.
We aren't going to focus on the effort of planning a book/characters/plot/climax/blah because we also all know how much effort that takes, too.
We're going to discuss the effort in which you give your characters. Characters have to make an effort.
An effort to love.
An effort to solve a crime.
An effort to find a lost loved one.
An effort to change themselves.
An effort to make people see the real them.
An effort to keep a promise (or break one for that matter).
An effort to keep a secret...or create one.
An effort to develop relationships and keep them.
An effort to save the world.
An effort to learn how to use their superpowers.
An effort to become The President of The United States!
Heck, your characters have to making an effort practically the entire book!
Who knew they went through so much work? *whew* I'm exhausted just thinking about it!
The point is, your characters cannot just sit around letting the story happen around them. They ARE the story. What they are going through, doing, changing, is the story. And that takes effort!
Think back to when we discussed build earlier this week. Two people, a man and a woman from feuding families both want the same priceless egg. With GREAT effort, they will work together (try not to kill each other while denying their attraction) in order to get back the egg that was sold beneath their very noses. They will work with their own families, with each other, planning and calculating. Since they are working together to get the egg back, they will both also be thinking how to get the egg to themselves once the pair of them have it in their clutches. Lots of effort going on there.
Same goes with any book. If you have a murder-mystery...you have the effort of solving the crime. If you have sci-fi...you have the effort of learning how to fly a space shuttle in order to stave off an intergalactic war. If you have romance...you better believe you have effort between the characters--each trying to get what they want out of the story or each other. Effort comes in many forms, in many shapes, and many story lines. Every story line.
The Blindside? The effort of those parents trying to help out a homeless kid and help him succeed.
Finding Nemo? The effort of a father trying to track down his only son.
The Vow? The effort of a husband desperately trying to help his wife remember their lives together.
And within each of these main efforts, their are smaller efforts.
While your characters are going through all this effort, they are changing, building character, learning and growing. Without their effort, without their dreams or hopes or desires, their would be no story.
Now go pick up a book or a watch a favorite and really watch the effort of the characters. Then make sure your characters are putting out just a much effort in their stories. ;-)
~JD
Now, on to EFFORT!
ef·fort
[ef-ert]
noun
1.
exertion of physical or mental power: It will take great effort toachieve victory.
2.
an earnest or strenuous attempt: an effort to keep to theschedule.
3.
something done by exertion or hard work: I thought it wouldbe easy, but it was an effort.
4.
5.
the amount of exertion expended for a specified purpose: thewar effort.
There are a lot of different angles I could take this, so let's see if I can keep my verbage focused, shall I?
We aren't going to focus on the effort of writing the book because let's face it...we ALL know how much effort that takes.
We aren't going to focus on the effort of planning a book/characters/plot/climax/blah because we also all know how much effort that takes, too.
We're going to discuss the effort in which you give your characters. Characters have to make an effort.
An effort to love.
An effort to solve a crime.
An effort to find a lost loved one.
An effort to change themselves.
An effort to make people see the real them.
An effort to keep a promise (or break one for that matter).
An effort to keep a secret...or create one.
An effort to develop relationships and keep them.
An effort to save the world.
An effort to learn how to use their superpowers.
An effort to become The President of The United States!
Heck, your characters have to making an effort practically the entire book!
Who knew they went through so much work? *whew* I'm exhausted just thinking about it!
The point is, your characters cannot just sit around letting the story happen around them. They ARE the story. What they are going through, doing, changing, is the story. And that takes effort!
Think back to when we discussed build earlier this week. Two people, a man and a woman from feuding families both want the same priceless egg. With GREAT effort, they will work together (try not to kill each other while denying their attraction) in order to get back the egg that was sold beneath their very noses. They will work with their own families, with each other, planning and calculating. Since they are working together to get the egg back, they will both also be thinking how to get the egg to themselves once the pair of them have it in their clutches. Lots of effort going on there.
Same goes with any book. If you have a murder-mystery...you have the effort of solving the crime. If you have sci-fi...you have the effort of learning how to fly a space shuttle in order to stave off an intergalactic war. If you have romance...you better believe you have effort between the characters--each trying to get what they want out of the story or each other. Effort comes in many forms, in many shapes, and many story lines. Every story line.
The Blindside? The effort of those parents trying to help out a homeless kid and help him succeed.
Finding Nemo? The effort of a father trying to track down his only son.
The Vow? The effort of a husband desperately trying to help his wife remember their lives together.
And within each of these main efforts, their are smaller efforts.
While your characters are going through all this effort, they are changing, building character, learning and growing. Without their effort, without their dreams or hopes or desires, their would be no story.
Now go pick up a book or a watch a favorite and really watch the effort of the characters. Then make sure your characters are putting out just a much effort in their stories. ;-)
~JD
2 comments:
The characters and their actions are indeed the story! And yes, sometimes they do need to learn to fly a space shuttle in order to save the world. Or the galaxy.
Make those characters WORK for it! :D I totally agree, great post. Effort and character motivation make the story. :)
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