How to show Ash vulnerable enough to be ripe for temptation's picking...

Ok, I've worked a lot on my opening. I've gotten the prologue down to 4 pages. I introduced Ash in a way I think shows a good "before" portrait of him and his needs that will allow the "after" picture I'll soon write to stand in great relief. I aimed to write him as a good-hearted person who likes to please and who is quite vulnerable emotionally, needy. I show the holes in his marriage, but also end the most recently finished chapter on a note that shows a portrait of what their good times look like when they agree to look for a house. I introduced his wife Ginny in a way that I hope shows her as as someone searching for meaning in her life, something she had but lost. I'm almost to my first temptation for Ash. I've already written it, but I have a transition to make. A chapter that shows how they can go form that high point when they decide to look for a house, back down to low enough in Ash's confidence that he can be vulnerable to temptation, needing attention.

Driving today, I had a thought of bringing Miazy in in her POV. I hadn't planned on that til December, and it's still summer. But maybe it'd be good to bring her in. Maybe in that chapter I can make passing reference to her observation of an event between Ash and Ginny that the reader can know makes him lose confidence in Ginny. I think it'd be fun to find Maizy's older voice. I haven't written her yet, other than in the prologue. Maybe it'd be really good for the story to bring her in now, in Ash's "before" portrait.

Ok, I've decided: my task tonight is to write a Maizy chapter. I want her voice to be rich, to reveal observations of her world. She's the artist, after all--if anyone's got powers of observation it should be her. Also, I hope to show, eventually at least, that Maizy of the prologue was not a trustworthy POV. I want to show how strong she is now in comparison.

On Reading a Certain Inspirational Fiction Author's Book

I just read a Christian novel by a certain author I will not name--but it was one I'd almost promised myself I'd never read. The only thing that kept me from making this vow official was that I was so uninterested in ever reading her books that there was no reason to make myself promise--it was such a given! But I took it on as homework, part of my research into the market, to see what her writing was really like. Recently at a conference, a writer insinuated lack of respect for this writer; she said she tried to read one of her novels once and threw it out the window of her car. I resonated with that, or at least my preconceptions resonated with that--I hadn't yet actually read any of her works. But this writer recognized there is one thing of value to those books--she is doing something right. She mentioned a survey that revealed that writer is so popular, selling a million copies every time she puts out a new book, because women say they like that she can make them cry.

So, at the library, finding everytihng I wanted unavailable, I three times walk by this very popular, can-make-women-cry novelist's books. But I finally succumb and pick one off the shelf. I further justified it by making the one I choose fulfill a double duty. My other homework is to read Christian novels that deal with adultery and see how they handle it, so I chose this author's book on that topic.

I read it in 2 days--a quick read. Yes, she did make me cry. And if that book is an indication of typical plot lines of others, I can say I'm not interested in reading more. I was frustrated by a number of things. One, the extremes of the plotline seemed to be a cop out. I read once that readers can forgive coincidences to get characters into trouble, but not to get out of trouble. I saw a certian character's death quite a cop out to the main character's biggest challenge, setting up the romance for future installments of the series.

Secondly, I was annoyed by some of the characterizations of the faithful. I can't articulate why yet. (My last post "Struggling with my characters' faith orientations" was about this.) But something about it just didn't sit right with me. And the writer didn't even have everyone in the book as a Christian. So it wasn't the problem that I expected--a whitewashed world where everyone agrees and follows Jesus, etc. It might take me a while to pinpoint what exactly strikes me as disingenuine about the write'rs portrayals of people of faith. A third annoyance is just the way characters were written. It wasn't bad, but then it also wasn't really good. I started reading Anne Brashares The Last Summer of You nad Me right after this book, and it made a sharp contrast. I love, LOVE the way Brashares characterizes people, and the way she gives them internal monologues that reveal how they see the world. I feel like I'm learning something about the world through their eyes. They are so rich. By comparison, this best -selling inspirational fiction writer was thin, shallow. But her subject matter was not. I liked a lot of the themes she was adressing, and even the way she handled them at times. But the writing jsut wasn't great. Or the plot structure.

When I hit writers' block, I write nonfiction articles. Heres' a smattering:
How Much Genetically Modified Food Do You Eat?

Green Tea Anti-Oxidants: How Do They Actually Fight Cancer?

Chemical in Some Disposable Diapers Cause of Obesity and Hormone Disruption

Telling Breyers to make Their Ice Cream "All-Natural" Like They Used to

Struggling with the faith orientations of my characters

My brain feels like mush. I have the opportunity to write tonight, and yet I'm wasting time. If I'm not mentally prepared for exactly what I'm writing, before I write, I hardly get a thing accomplished. It takes so much mental discipline to write!

My mind has been wrestling through the religious orientations of my characters. I haven't made my decisions yet on what all their beliefs are. I realize now I need to know this, and I cannot know it by simply randomly picking for each person. I read a lot on personality theory (think Meyers-Briggs, Jungian theory, the old temperaments based on the humroal system, etc.) and I know that a person's orietnation toward religion and faith is infleunced by the same things that influience a personality toward everything else in life. I know enough to know my characters' faith orientations have to grow organically out of other characteristics I've given them. SO it's more like  I need to discover their relgiious oreitnataions--born out of both thier family of origin, life experience and basic temperament. At a recent conference,T L Higley, writer of Christian historical fiction, made reference to a book that addresses the faith aspect specifically. I should probably try to find that. It'd be interesting for me to see what things are common roadblocks to faith for certain personality types.

So this is supposed to be my warm up for wrting on my novel. What now?  I don't think anything about faith has been mentioned yet in the first number of chapters, except for in the prologue when a character makes reference to a Bible story. I had one other reference, but it got taken out cuz I took out the whole scene that had contained it. In reading a Brashares novel today (mainstream, not Christian fiction), I was surprised when, maybe 5 chapters in, the subject of God and a character's deep faith is mentioned. I liked how it was done--not forced, mentioned when it needed to be for the story. (In another blog post, I compare this to a very popular inspirational fiction novelists whose handling of this DID NOT impress me! )

Ah, maybe I need to journal form the perspectives of some of my character to find out what they think about God and faith. I know it about the main characters already, but I need to know it about some minor characters, cuz it'll determien how they show frinedship nad support to the main charaters when they undergo their trials. But all this journaling takes time. Is there a shortcut, a few questions I can ask of my characters, that will faster lead me to discovering thier answers to that big question? Maybe, but i don't know it. I have to invent their life stories before I can know how they affect them!

So here's to writing for mayb a half hour tonight. Maybe I'll write about Ash and what guilt feels like to him.

My other hobby is writing nonfiction articles:
Prostate Cancer: Nutrients for Prevention and Defense

Doctor Finds Depression Caused By Nutrient Depletion

Manufacture Your Own Electricity in Your Backpack or Briefcase?

Negative Health Effects of Genetically Modified Foods