Calling Vicki, How to Craft a Villain

 Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories.- George R. R. Martin

 I believe that the most important character in any suspense novel or thriller is the villain. I believe that it was Arnold Schwarzenegger who said that the bigger the obstacle the bigger the hero must be. The villain or antagonist is the one who will make or break your novel. In Calling Vicki I sort of doubled down by including two powerful and very different types of villains in the novel. One of the men is named Carlos, he is all emotion, rage, lust, anger and hate. He dominated through fear and intimidation. The other villain is named Riddle and he is cerebral. He is a thinking man who takes an ordered and logical approach to the task at hand. Even when he is killing he does it with all the emotion of someone who is washing their hands.


   

When crafting the villain for your novel you need to decide on what traits will drive your characters. Villains are usually driven by a mania, something that drives them beyond the point of reason. When crafting my lead villains I knew that needed one of them to balance out the other. Carlos needed someone like Riddle to keep him focused on the task at hand and Riddle, a hired killer, needed someone to give him a target and push to make decisions that he would not normally make. I needed characters who would conflict with each other as much as they would the world around them.

 

  When sitting down to write Calling Vicki I knew that I had to introduce the villain as soon as possible. The villain is the force of conflict and conflict is the best way to drive a story. When ever I got stuck for a way to go I would come back to the lead villain and he would be able to give me clues on which way I should go next with my story. The cool thing about villains is that they are decisive. 

 Okay that will be it for today. If you wish to meet my villains then take a few minutes to read chapter two of my novel Calling Vicki by clicking here. I wish you good luck with your project and do not forget to share this post and to add me to your google plus.


 

Becoming a Novelist

 I really never set out to become a novelist. I started writing when I was twelve. I knew that someday I would probably write books, but had no idea of when or how. I have to say that it took ten years before I wrote my first novel. So we all understand what a novel is, it is a story written in prose form that runs over two hundred double spaced pages and or at least fifty thousand words.

 How long does it take to write a novel? 

Well the math says that if you write two pages a day, each day for an entire year you will finish that year with over seven hundred pages and about three novels in the bank. If your novels are long then two can be written in that time or if you are writing something like epic fantasy then one Game of Thrones sized book. Writing is mostly about the allocation of time and effort. The novels that get finished are not finished because of inspiration, but perspiration. While I was writing Calling Vicki there were days that I could manage only a sentence and other days when I could write ten pages in one sitting. Just keep going back to the page each and every day. Sitting down and reading that page to the point where you left off is usually enough to get at least another page out of you. While writing your first novel you will find that the writing itself is not the hardest part, it is just sitting down in front of that screen and putting your fingers on the keyboard. 

There are a few of you who do not have the patients to invest a year or even months into writing your novel. There are those who believe that it can been done in thirty days. I am not going to say that no it cannot be done. Stephen King said that he wrote an entire novel over a weekend.




 Now the actual time table that you set for yourself is up to you. Do not be disappointed if you go overtime. In the end it is about getting it right. When I sat down to write Calling Vicki I thought that it was a six week project. In the end it took eight months to complete and looking back on it that was the perfect amount of time for me to get it right. Also in defense of that eight month time table I did publish a non fiction book that took a great deal of time and effort to put together. Some of us like to work on multiple projects at the same time. Do what feels right for you. After all writing is suppose to be fun. If writing suspense or mystery is not fun then switch to fantasy or horror novels. If that does not work for you there is humor or even non-fiction. What ever gets you to the keyboard each day is the only thing that matters.

 

 Good luck and please take a moment to share this post on stumbleupon and to read one of the sample chapters of my book. If you like the chapter feel free to share it with a friend. Thanks you and good luck.

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Calling Vicki, Characters, The Main, The Lead

            Calling Vicki, Characters, The Main, The Lead

    There is a theory in screen writing that I would like for you to consider when it comes to writing your novel. The theory is that your lead character and your main character do not have to be the same person.
   
    Look at the film Terminator. The lead character is Sarah Connor.  The main character is the Terminator. The lead character occupies most of the story. They are on the screen or in our case the page more often than any other character. While the main character drives the story. They make things happen. In book terms look at the novel Silence of the Lambs. Starling in the lead character and Lecter is the main character. He drives the story. When ever he shows up there is something like electricity in the air.


    There are many great books where the lead and the main character are one and the same. This is the case in Cold Mountain and Gone With the Wind and Great Expectations and the Harry Potter series. This is also the case with my suspense novel Calling Vicki. Victoria is both main character and the lead. As we get to know about her past and life as lived we grow to understand what motives her. I hope that readers will empathize with her and want her to be successful.

    Thank you for dropping in and checking out my blog. I hope that you will have a look at my book and recommend this blog to others via facebook and stumbleupon.

Writing is a lonely business. Even writing a blog can be lonely. There are long stretches of time where I get little to no feedback.

    Good luck with your work and have a nice day.

Calling Vicki, Writing the First Chapter

           

    The first chapter is like a handshake. This is how we are suppose to greet our reader and get them interested in the story as a whole. I think that this is the must nail chapter in a thriller. You have to establish a sense of tension and a basic idea of who the main characters are.



    When writing Calling Vicki I knew that I needed to introduce the sisters Elizabeth (Liz) and Victoria (Vicki) as soon as possible. I did that with a flashback in the form of a nightmare. A nightmare about a traumatic event in their lives. Next I decided to introduce Liz’s husband Daniel. To give the reader a glimpse into their lives as lived together because I knew that it would be many chapters before they would be back together again. To build suspense in a story you have to establish the connections and relationships that are going to be put in jeopardy. You do not want your book to be populated by those characters who fill so many bad horror films. A bunch of names and faces running around waiting to be killed. You only care about the characters that you know.  One of my favorite modern horror films is the Descent. We are introduced to and given time to know all six women in the film before the bad things begin to happen. The writer/filmmaker cared about those characters and it showed. You have to care about your characters even the bad guys. Many writers like to use the first chapter to introduce the villain, in future novels I may do this, but I felt that this first chapter, of what I hope will be a series of novels, had to introduce one of the two women who will carry that series. I also need you to understand that I did this on a subconscious level and only looking backwards do I fully understand that this is what I was doing and the reason why I did it was from lessons learn from all of the novels I have read throughout my life.




    Okay that will be it on my opening chapter.  I guess that the next post should be about the antagonists or as I think of them as the engine that runs the car. You need these guys to be strong if your suspense novel is going to be strong. 

    You can read the first chapter by clicking here.

    Thank you again for visiting my blog and I hope that you will take a moment to share this post with a friend and to like it on stumbleupon. Writing is a lonely business and blogs are one of the few ways that we get to interact with the public. I know that you are their because you are reposting what I write here.

Calling Vicki Notes, Advice From Others

            Calling Vicki Notes, Advice From Others

 When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. - Ernest Hemingway

    I believe that one of the most important things that any writer can ever seek out is advice from those who have done it before. With Youtube there is a wealth of free advice out there from some of the world’s greatest writers. From those who write horror novels to those who are have mastered the suspense novel. 

    When I started my journey as an indie film maker I began it by studying the work of others and following the advice of others. I actively sought out advice from those who had made indie films before me. Now as a novelist I take time each and every week to read interviews with other writers or to watch them. Sometimes I do this for inspiration and others because they have some cool advice to offer.

    You are reading this because you are maybe interested in my suspense novel Calling Vicki and or you are interested in writing a book someday yourself.
 


 When writing Calling Vicki I tried my best to make sure that something interesting or exciting happened in every single chapter. I tried to avoid writing filler. I wrote a book that I would want to read. A book filled with action, romance and suspense that builds till the end.

 

I hope that those interviews offered you some sound advice. I hope that you will return to my website from time to time and I hope that you will check out my book.

Thank you for visiting. Please take a moment to share this post and have a nice day.

Calling Vicki, A Thrilling Paperback

            Calling Vicki, A Thrilling Paperback

    My thriller Calling Vicki is as of this moment a paperback. As a writer I have to tell you that it does not really feel like a book until you can pick it up and smell that fresh book smell.

    Although this is my second published paperback this one feels different. The first one is a nonfiction book on film making. This is one hundred percent fiction and that means that this is an actual novel. I can show it to my mother and say here it is. I am an actual published author even though I have been one in the ebook universe for almost a year.



    This is my first published book. It is a book on digital film making that features interviews with film makers who are just releasing their films as I am writing these words. I plan on doing a follow up book at least once a year to show how the world of film making is changing.  It use to cost millions of dollars to shoot a film and now with a DSLR like the Canon T series or the Panasonic Gh1- Gh3 you can shoot a feature length film for a few thousand dollars.

at amazon

    The next post on the subject of Calling Vicki will be about theme and the fact that almost all stories have a theme whether the writer is aware of it or not. For those of you who have read the novel I will say that the theme is Home. Vicki, my lead character, is completing a journey home. She is unaware of the fact, but that is the core of her human story. Home in her case is represented by family and the man that she loves.

I forgot to mention that you can find the paperback of my suspense novel Calling Vicki on Amazon for 6.99.

amazon paperback

Okay that is it for today.

Please take a few minutes to read a chapter and then to share this post with a friend. I have even installed a cool share widget to make it easier.

Calling Vicki, 10 Days, Lessons Learned

            Calling Vicki, 10 Days, Lessons Learned

    I am officially ten days into the release of the novel and during the past few days I learned a great deal about what works and so far does not work where marketing a novel is concerned.

Lesson number one:

    When I do this again I am going to start the facebook page for the book at least a month in advance. Unless you advertise it takes a long time to build facebook followers and that following is important where marketing a book is concerned. I am in luck in this one area. I have facebook ad credits left laying around and I plan on using them during the next week.


Lesson two:

    Build the website and put it on autopilot.
    What I mean by that is that I could have constructed this website with pre written post while I was writing the book and then have them set to post on certain days. By having done that I would have more free time for marketing.


Lesson Three:

    No two books are alike.

    I have written a few nonfiction books. Marketing those books were easier because I had blogged for at least a year on each subject of those books. By blogging I had a built in audience and that helped to sell those books.
    This book is suspense fiction and I am unproven as a fiction writer although I have published four short stories during the past year.  All I have to get people interested in the novel are the sample chapters. When writing a thriller, sci fi or suspense or horror you need to build a fan base. In this case I am going to have to use the novel to do that.

Lesson Four.    

    Stumbleupon and Tumblr are very important marketing tools.

    I can use them to reach people. To get them to sample my book, but getting others to share my post on Stumbleupon or Tumblr is huge. From my research I find that these two sites are much more important when it comes to marketing a novel than Twitter. Convince a reader to repost a chapter or one of my post on Tumblr is going to make things progress a lot faster. Getting others to like my pages on Stumbleupon gets my work to a huge audience.

Lesson Five.

    Ask for help.

    I am a loner by nature. Most writers are. We spend more time with out characters than we do interacting with others. I do not like hiring help, yet alone asking for it. I have to get past this, because I do have a family to support. I have to do this so that I can quit my day job and become a full time writer.
    So I am going to as for help from you the reader. Take a few minutes to read a chapter of the book that has been posted here. Share that post with a friend. Tell me what you think.


    Lesson six.

    Keep writing.

    Writing takes the pressure to sell off. Writing is after all what I love to do and getting lost in the next story is good for business in the long term. With the exception of blog post I took eight days off from writing and that amount to around ten thousand words that I did not write. I am back to writing and having fun at it. I like to tell stories. I love seeing how they will turn out. I can not wait to see how this real life story of me the novelist will end up.





Lesson seven.

    Make up for lost time.

    This is time that you spent writing that you did not spend with your family or friends or even me time.  In my case I did not spend enough time with my child, she is almost three and I took six months out of our time together saying go away I am trying to finish my book. Well it is finished and today I going to play with blocks and dolls. I am a guy I love blocks, but dolls were never my thing.

    Face it, while we are working so hard to build a better life for the ones that we love we forget to do the little things. All the money and success on earth does not make up for time. Time is the one thing that we do not get more of.

    Okay that will be it for today’s post. Good luck with your writing and thank you for visiting.

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Calling Vicki, Welcome to Amazon

            Calling Vicki, Welcome to Amazon

The news for today is that my suspense novel, Calling Vicki, has just been publish on Amazon click here.   This leaves the paperback version of the novel yet to be released. You must understand that when you are self publishing a novel it does not happen all at once. You have different venues that of course have different standards that must be met before publication.
    How do I publish my first novel?
    Good question.
    There is no easy answer to this.  You can go the traditional route. This would be finish you novel. Hire someone to proof read it or do it yourself. Then you will have to find an agent. Finding an agent involves researching those who represent your kind of fiction or nonfiction. Then crafting a query. If they like your query then they will request that you submit a few sample chapters and an outline. If they like both then you book will be requested. If they like you book and agree to represent you then you will sit back and wait for them to find a publisher. They will review the offer and if it is acceptable you will have a publisher. Once this happens you will wait a few months or up to a year before publication.
    While if you self publish you decide when the book is ready and then you seek
 out the venues that you wish to publish on or you uses a company like smashwords or Draft2digital or Bookbaby to do the distribution for you and  you are published in days. How much do they cost? Well Smashwords and Draft2digital are free, while Bookbaby cost money. They say that they have a free option, but it is very complicated and their customer service on that option stinks.
    I could have taken my novel Calling Vicki to each venue separately. By doing so I do not have to share any of the revenue, but that was time consuming and some are more difficult to deal with than others. Barnes and Noble is easier than Amazon or Createspace.  I made the choice to get help to distribute my first novel. 

Trust me on this that the distribution part of the job is a lot easier than the marketing. The type of book that you have written, horror or thriller or romance will make it easier or more difficult to market the book. In another life I hope to write teen horror fiction. It is by far the easiest to market and the fan base is intensely loyal. The problem with being a writer is that we write what comes to us. We do not really have a choice of the types of stories that we end up telling. The genre finds us.
    Okay that is it for today’s post. Please take a moment to read one of the same chapters and remember that my book is now available on Amazon.

buy at amazon

Calling Vicki, Chapter Three of the Novel

I have being doing a quick review of the traffic to this blog and although I have received hundreds of visitors during the past week there has not been many views of the chapters that I have posted so I am going to repost Chapter three here.  
     The reason that I have selected chapter three is that it is the first of the early chapters that would be rated general audience. Calling Vicki is at times a violent and bloody suspense novel, also there is some sexual content so I have to be careful with a blog page that is open to everyone. The second reason is that this is the chapter where the main character, Victoria (Vicki) Winters, is introduced. I hope that you enjoy the chapter and that you will consider purchasing the novel.

  Chapter Three.

    The kitchen and the bathrooms were stunning, but when selling a home to a family you had to get as many members of the family on board as possible. The wife was in love with the home. The husband was indifferent. Husbands were always indifferent to houses. Just pick one that they could pay off within two decades and they were pleased. The one that would tip the sale in her favor would be the child.
    The child in this case was a thirteen-year-old boy who had not been able to take his eyes off of her since him and his parents arrived to inspect the house. While the parents looked over the front garden, she sat on the front steps with the boy sitting close by. She turned her gaze on him and he quickly looked away.
    “We have not been introduced yet. My name is Victoria Winters.”She offered her hand and he shook it eagerly.
    “Trevor.”He smiled.
    “You know Trevor if your family buys this house, we are going to be almost neighbors. I live just a mile down that road over there. If you are up early in the morning, you could join me on my jogs.  Maybe this summer my nieces will be visiting. Diana is nine and Courtney is twelve. Some people thing that Courtney looks just like me.”Vicki took out her phone and found a picture of her nieces. Diana looked like her sister Liz while Courtney did look a great deal like Victoria. A beautiful dark brown-haired twelve year old with huge eyes.  “If you guys buy this house I could introduce you.”
`    Trevor was up and jogging over to join his parents, twenty minutes later.
 Vicki was driving away with a hand shake deal on the house feeling a bit guilty over the one lie that she had told the boy. She had visited her sister and her two daughters, but they had never returned home for a visit. Too many conflicting memories perhaps had kept her sister from ever returning to the only home where they had ever been a complete family.
    Despite the fact that she had one more house to show today Vicki took the turn off that led to her own home. Nothing needs to be done back at home, nothing had been left, but she did it anyway. Thirty seconds later when she saw the car parked in the drive of her home did she get the reason why. That timeless companion to all those who considered themselves survivors, instinct, had made her do it.
    There was a man sitting on the hood of that car staring up at her home.
    Vicki cruised her car to a stop about twenty feet away. Took the small snub nosed pistol from her purse and held it concealed behind her back as she got out of the car and advanced on the man who had his back to her and seemed to have not noticed the presents of her or her car yet.
    “Nice house huh?”Vicki called to him.
    The man tilted his head her way, but did not look back.
    “I knew someone who lived here.”He said.
    “Really?”She said.
    “Yeah, a girl. A long time ago.”He turned to look at her and did a quick double take. He knew her and it was the tailored beard that kept her from registering who he was for a second or two.
    “Cash?”Vicki whispered and secured the gun in the pocket of her business suit.
    “Tori?”He began to jog toward her, then slowed down not sure how she would react or if was really real after all these years.
    Vicki knew how he felt. She had not seen Cash Russell since the day after her parents were killed. One day they were best friends, then they had not been this close to each other in nineteen years.
    Vicki decided for the both of them by skipping the last few steps to him and embraced him. Nineteen years ago she had been taller than him and now despite the fact that she was five foot ten in her bare feet he was at least three inches taller than her. Cash lifted her and spun her twice before putting her down. He stepped back just far enough to take hold of her hands and to take a good look at her.
    “You are wearing a suit and tie Cash?”
    “You are wearing a suit without a tie Tori.”
    “I don’t like the beard. I bet my old friend is buried somewhere underneath it.”
    “You know what Tori?”
    “What?”
    “You grew up cute.”Cash grinned.
    “I know.”
    “Jerk.”
    “I know.”Vicki smiled and pulled her hands away.
    “Was that a gun you had?”
    “Maybe. Now why are you here?”
    “I missed you too, pal.”
    “Seriously?”
    Cash looked away to Vicki’s house and smiled.
    “I came up here to check on my parent’s house and see about arranging a sale. They are happy in Florida, but could use more money down there. I thought about you while I was over there and came here to remember a few things.”
    “You staying long?”
    Cash stared at her for a few seconds until it became awkward then said. “As long as it takes, takes to catch up on how things have been going with you.”
    “Okay, I tell you what, you can ask me one more question before I have to get back to my day job.”
    “Thank you for granting me permission oh great queen.”
    “Cash.”
    “What time should I pick you up tonight?”
    “Five o’clock. Dress casually. I pick and you pay.”She giggled like a girl and that was something she could not remember doing since she had been a girl.
    “I pay?”
    “Yes. I know what that suit you are wearing cost. Shame on you for spending that much money when there are starving Bigfoots somewhere.”
    He started back toward his car and stop himself before opening to the door.
    “God, I have missed you so much Tori.”He said.
    “Don’t call me God, it goes to my head. And I feel the same.”Vicki said. She did and needed a few hours to compose herself. Emotions made you vulnerable and she did not want to be vulnerable around a guy who was a stranger. They had been childhood friends for about eight years and had not seen each other for over twice that amount of time. Despite all the butterflies in her stomach she only knew who the kid Cash had been was. Neither of them knew the adult versions of the other. Yeah, she needed to breathe for a few hours.
    “Cool, see you here at five?”Cash said.
    “You always had to hear it three or four times didn’t you.”Vicki smiled. “Go and come back with chocolates.”
    Vicki watched him drive away and decided to hand off her last assignment for the day to another broker. She felt the overwhelming need to wash her hair until it shined golden brown. Turned out cute huh? He had not seen anything yet.

Calling Vicki, Is it Too Violent?

         

    Those who have read the entire book will have to answer that question for themselves. I understand that you have come here for my opinion and here it is.
    Calling Vicki is a book about survival.
    The antagonist is a violent criminal. Carlos solves almost all of his problems with violence. I admit that I made that I made the conscious choice to show that violence to the reader so that when Vicki response with violence you as the reader can clearly see the difference.
    There is never a moment where Carlos is engaged in violence where he is not emotional and that is where it comes from for him. Strong emotions like anger, lust, fear and rage.
    When Vicki resorts to violence it is to protect herself or those whom she loves. She is almost always thinking it through when she uses a gun. Of course this is why she does not dwell on the actions that she had taken along the way. She uses a gun for a reason. Like the soldier that she was at one time she has learned to justify it and move on.
    A few words about where I learned to write a modern thriller. There are two answers to that. My writing style comes from reading Robert B. Parker (the Spenser novels), Mickey Spillane, Dorothy L. Sayers and James Patterson. I am also influenced by movies. I am a screenwriter more so than a novelist. I do not have to struggle while writing a screenplay in the same way that someone who plays the guitar has to struggle when learning to play the bass. As a guy I hate to admit that I have watched a number of lifetime thrillers and suspense films. Most of them are terrible because they never take risk. They never break free of their basic formula. If someday I am asked to write a movie for the Lifetime network it would end up being something like the film Stoker or a lost classic like Mute Witness. 
 Here is a quick video that I found on writing suspense. If you are planning on writing your own suspense novel this quick tutorial can help you a great deal.

    I suppose the next question for me would be, do I see Calling Vicki as film material? 
    It started out as a screenplay that I could not finish.  Now looking at it finished in prose form I believe that it would make a very good movie. I believe that all three books in what will be the Victoria Winters series of novels would probably make good movies.
    Who would play Vicki or Liz or Cash in a movie version?
    That would be asking someone who is a indie film maker. If I did this book as a film rather than Hollywood who would play those parts?  Well, I would pick a few actors that most of you have never heard of, but I believe are fantastic. I will not duck the question completely. As far as Cash goes, I could see either of the guys on the show Supernatural playing that character in a movie. (Duck Alert) Who would play Liz would depend on casting Vicki first. If I say a name then you will always associate that actress and her face with Vicki, that is why I did not want to put a face on the cover of this novel. I tell you what I will do and you guys can remind me when it is released. When the second book comes out I will tell you exactly who I believe should play her in a movie if I got to pick and who would do it if Hollywood got to pick. Also I will do the same for the character of Liz.  I promise. Just don’t get upset if I suggest Joan Rivers.  (I am Joking)

Okay that is it for today. Above you will see that I have posted the next chapter in the book. I am thinking that I will go ten chapters over ten post.

Please take a moment to share this post or one of the chapters with a friend. I need your help to market this book. I need your help to complete these series of novels. If this novel becomes a best seller it is going to be due to those who read it and shared it with others. I could buy ads and hire companies to push Calling Vicki, but I believe that it would be better in the long run if fans of the book sort of pulled it along.
    Some of you guys have been great so far. I want to thank those of you who purchased the book. I want to thank all of you who have shared this blog on facebook and who have posted comments on stumbleupon. You are doing it because you like the characters and information that I am sharing with you.  Thank you.

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Calling Vicki, Feedback and Price Points

                Calling Vicki, Feedback and Price Points

I have gotten my first feedback about the sample chapters from the book. The question in one form or another is about Vicki and Cash. What happened nineteen years ago to separate them? How old were they at the time? What exactly happen to Vicki and Liz’s parents? 

    The answers are. It is in the book. They were both twelve and it is in the book. I have to say that it is worth reading to find out. The things that I am willing to say is that Vicki and Cash are perhaps my favorite couple to write about. They surprise me more often than any other couple that I have ever written about. I wish in a way that I could write about them as a couple during their teenage years. I have to tell the story the way that it happened and not how I wish it had happened.  “But you are the writer, you can make it up.” It does not work like that. If you ever write a novel I believe that you will find that out. Look at it this way, that old saying is true, absence does make the heart grow fonder. Their time spent apart will over the course of their story bring them closer together. They will appreciate the love that they share more because of it.

    When I sat down to write this novel I thought that it would be a pure thriller. Somewhere along the way romance took over. Now how cool is that?

    Now some story notes.

    A big part of releasing a novel is deciding upon the price that you will charge for the book. Some of this is going to be dictated by the venue that it will be released at and another part of this is the kind of book that it will be. Ebooks cost nothing to print so the price of an ebook is dictated by the venue that it is published upon. Some places charge you more than others for the right to publish there.

    If your book is going to be a hard copy. Paperback or hardcover then there is a cost per book that has to be accounted for. The paperback version of this novel has to cost at least 7.99 for me to make any money on it at all. While I have adjusted the cost of the ebook down to 2.99 today at all venues because I needed to be competitive with other authors.  You can now purchase the book here at the cost of 2.99 by clicking the picture of the cover below.
There is also a 40% discount available.

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Thank you for visiting my blog. Please take a moment to like my site on stumbleupon and to add me to your google plus.

Calling Vicki, Characters Can Drive

 Plot driven stories are just not my idea of fun. Plot forces you as a writer into corners that your characters at times do not find comfortable.

Plot should always be in the back ground. When I sat down to write Calling Vicki I had a basic chase plot in mind, but there was never a moment where I allowed the plot to override what my characters wanted or needed to do. I would sit back and allow Vicki or Carlos to take the wheel of my story and drive it in whatever direction that they wished. I knew that for the story to work out that these two would have to face each other, but I never pushed. I let their personalities to control their actions and the rest was easy.

 Plot tends to hold back characters from revealing who they really are. The character of Vicki is a natural hero because she is motivated by love and is willing to sacrifice herself for others. Carlos is a natural villain because he is totally self absorbed. He will sacrifice anyone for his own needs. He will do anything to satisfy his wants and desires. He does not believe that he is a villain and I find that to be very important when creating a villain. They have to believe that in their universe they are doing what is right and fair.

Here is a quick video on the subject. It is about screenwriting, but can easily be applied to prose.


  


  Okay now some news about the book. It is available at Smashwords. I am waiting on a different cover for the paper back that will be published on Amazon. Below will be a link to the Smashword’s page. At the top of the page you will find chapter three of Calling Vicki. If you would like to help with the social marketing of my book please take a moment to hit the like button on stumbleupon. I get twenty to forty visitors to this blog every time someone does this.

A few words about tomorrow’s post. It will be one the subject of publishing your own book in this digital age. There are so many ways to get your book or short stories out there to the public. Whether you want to have it read for free and to receive feedback or if you want to earn a living from your work.

Thank you for visiting. Have a nice day.