There's a Dreamlander Sequel in the Works!

The writing life is full of surprises. Sometimes stories end up taking you to places you never imagined they would.

For me, I got zoomed around for a huge loop-de-loop last month at a campfire when I suddenly got hit by a development I never saw coming: namely, a sequel idea for my portal fantasy Dreamlander, as well as ideas for turning my current stand-alone work-in-progress Wayfarer, about the historical superhero, into a trilogy.

For someone, who’s never written a sequel in her life, this came out of nowhere. But I’m super-excited about the possibilities, especially the idea of getting to revisit Dreamlander. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while, but never seriously because I tied off the loose ends in the first one so tightly that I didn’t think I’d be able to logically make a second work. But now I’ve got ideas pouring out of me! Fun stuff.

Happy writing!

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“If you’re a writer, write. And always strive for excellence.”

―Linda W. Yezak

Drawing Winners

Twice a month, I randomly draw four names from among e-letter subscribers.

The winners receive their choice of digital media from among my books.

This month's winners are J.D. Gill, Scott Murphy, Emilie Rose, and Brandi Weathers.

I will contact the winners directly. Congrats to all―and good luck to everyone else in the coming drawings!

Helpful Links & Resources

Maximising Want-To-Know Value: Mooderino encourages writers to keep readers reading by adding value to stories.

The Value of Agent-Assisted Self-Publishing: Jane Friedman talks about why an agent can bring added value even to independent authors.

Great Expectations. Or Not: Sara Davison shows writers how create realistic writing expectations.

Having Trouble With Your Characters? Learn How to Follow Their Pain

Sometimes you run into a character who you know is awesome—and yet he just doesn’t want to cooperate on the page. He’s not coming across right. He’s stiff, he’s immobile, his dialogue is forced, he just won’t interact with the other characters in any kind of a realistic or compelling way.

What do you do when a likable character just isn’t coming across as likable? I find this happens most often with characters who are good people with rigid personal convictions. The problem is that all this goodness they’re oozing can very easily end up coming across as goody-goody, know-it-all, or even moralistic.

The mentor character in my work-in-progress was behaving in just this way. He was supposed to be the light shining upon the right path for the protagonist. But mostly he was just irritating the heck out of me by continually harping on our poor protagonist for not measuring up to his ideals of right and wrong. I took a moment to think back on similar characters I had written whom I loved. What made the difference?

Pain, baby. It all comes down to pain.

Characters who have rigid moral views and are hypercritical of their fellows can so easily come across as obnoxious (or even scary—St. John Rivers, I’m looking at you). But they don’t have to be. If readers understand the motivations driving these characters, they won’t pass judgment. If they understand the pain that has formed these characters’ convictions, they’ll root for them (sometimes whether they agree with those convictions or not).

Consider one of our decade’s most popular screen characters: Captain America. He’s as strait-laced as they come. Sure, he’s a nice guy, but he’s also all my-way-or-the-highway and he ladles out judgments on those around him left and right. In part, we may cheer for him because we agree with some of those judgments. But that’s not what’s keeping him from coming across as annoyingly preachy and dogmatic.

So what is? His pain. We understand why he is the way is, and we sympathize with his tremendous personal losses.

Pain in a character’s past adds dimension to his personality. He’s not perfect. He’s a hurting, searching human being just like the rest of us. That’s what brings characters to life on the page and allows them to interact vividly with other characters. Even better, it’s what allows readers to invest in them!

“Fiction is a great combination between experience and imagination.”