| You know, I really hate it when someone catches me | | | | could work. BUT... hold on a minute.To make us really |
| crying over a book.I surreptitiously dab at the corners | | | | care, why not take a little bit of extra time? Get into |
| of my eyes with a finger. I turn away from anyone | | | | that character's mind. Help the reader to slip into his |
| else who might be in the room. Darn it! Why was I born | | | | skin... to settle in, finding out some of the history. This is |
| such an emotional sponge?The good part is, of course, | | | | what will make us care.It need not take up much story |
| that the author has succeeded admirably. I am really | | | | time or space: sometimes just a few extra |
| involved with those characters. When bad things | | | | paragraphs. Sometimes a couple of pages. You don't |
| happen, I'm aghast. I can feel their pain. I want things to | | | | have to go into flashback or spend pages telling the |
| get better for them - as soon as possible! I can't turn | | | | backstory. A few hints are enough.Don't start with the |
| those pages fast enough to find out what happens | | | | explosion - show the happiness of the victims a few |
| next.We'd all love to think that our prose is powerful | | | | moments beforehand. THEN have the big bang, when |
| enough to have readers reaching for the tissues. But | | | | we know enough about them to care. Foreshadow |
| how do we do that? What's the secret to putting | | | | the danger, or the approaching disaster, while we're |
| words together to make our readers cry?If We Don't | | | | getting to know the characters. THEN show things |
| Know Them, We Don't CareSome of you probably | | | | going wrong.Here's an example from a published book: |
| sob regularly over sad stories on the nightly news. | | | | Demolition Angel by Robert Crais |
| Others are more hard-hearted - it really takes a lot to | | | | Code Three Roll Out Bomb Squad Silver Lake, |
| make you cry.Let's imagine you're sitting down in front | | | | CaliforniaCharlie Riggio stared at the cardboard box |
| of the TV set. You're only half-watching the news; | | | | sitting beside the Dumpster. It was a Jolly Green Giant |
| flipping through a magazine at the same time. Then up | | | | box, with what appeared to be a crumpled brown |
| comes one of the night's big stories - a major road | | | | paper bag sticking up through the top. The box was |
| accident. You gaze at the mangled wreck and shake | | | | stamped GREEN BEANS. Neither Riggio or nor the |
| your head. There are some awful accidents...Then the | | | | two uniformed officers with him approached closer |
| announcer gives a name. You sit bolt upright, and take | | | | than the corner of the strip mall there on Sunset |
| another look at the car. Your heart sinks like a stone. | | | | Boulevard; they could see the box fine from where |
| Oh no... oh no. That's Janet's son they're talking about. | | | | they were."How long has it been there?"One of the |
| That road fatality - that STATISTIC - is the youngest | | | | Adam car officers, a Filipino named Ruiz, checked his |
| son of one of your neighbours; so proud of his first car. | | | | watch."We got our dispatch about two hours ago. We |
| Your hand flies to your mouth, and tears spring to your | | | | been here since.""Find anyone who saw how it got |
| eyes. Oh, poor Janet...There's a lesson here. Bad luck is | | | | there?""Oh, no, dude. Nobody."The other officer, a |
| infinitely more tragic if we know the person concerned. | | | | black guy named Mason, nodded."Ruiz is the one who |
| We put ourselves in the place of his/her family | | | | saw it. He went over and looked in the bag, the crazy |
| members. We start thinking about the | | | | Flip.""So tell me what you saw.""I told your |
| repercussions.We HURT.How can you apply this | | | | sergeant.""Tell me. I'm the sonofabitch who's gonna |
| knowledge to your writing?Give The Reader A | | | | approach the damned thing."Ruiz described seeing the |
| Chance To Get To Know Your CharacterYou've | | | | capped ends of two galvanized pipes taped together |
| probably been advised many times to plunge the | | | | with silver duct tape. The pipes were loosely wrapped |
| reader into the story right away. Start at the point of | | | | in newspaper, Ruiz said, so he had only seen the |
| change. Dive into the action; involve the reader.This is | | | | ends.Riggio considered that. They were standing in a |
| good advice - to a point.I've read far too many books | | | | strip mall on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake, an area |
| (published and unpublished) in which the author has | | | | that had seen increasing gang activity in recent |
| begun with Something Bad happening to the main | | | | months. Gangbangers would steal galvanized pipe |
| character. The idea is to get the reader hooked from | | | | from construction sites or dig up plastic PVC from |
| the first sentence. Oh my goodness... how will Jane get | | | | some poor bastard's garden, then stuff them with |
| out of this?The bad news is, it doesn't always work. | | | | rocket powder or match heads. Riggio didn't know if |
| And almost always, the reason it doesn't work is | | | | the Green Giant box held an actual bomb or not, but |
| because we're reading about strangers. To become | | | | he had to approach it if it did. That's the way it was |
| really involved you have to 'become' the viewpoint | | | | with bomb calls. Better than ninety-five percent turned |
| character. Then you will feel her pain!Let's dig into this a | | | | out to be hairspray cans, some teenager's book bag, |
| bit more. Living in your own skin, you have a whole | | | | or, like his most recent call-out, two pounds of |
| slew of background experiences to call upon. If | | | | marijuana wrapped in Pampers. Only one out of a |
| 'something bad' happens to you, there's a history all | | | | hundred was what the bomb techs called an |
| waiting.Case OneYou support a talented child all the | | | | "improvised munition".A homemade bomb. |
| way through to Olympic success. You've lost count of | | | | |
| the sacrifices the family has made. Then at the crucial | | | | This introduction of Charlie Riggio takes up roughly |
| moment - that child loses his balance on the swimming | | | | one printed page. The author spends another three |
| blocks at the Olympic selections meet and is | | | | and a half pages letting the reader get to know Charlie. |
| disqualified. Years of training down the drain. (OK, it | | | | We see how careful he is; how much experience he |
| happened to Ian Thorpe... but it could have been | | | | has. We are led through the procedure of checking out |
| anybody: the years of training and sacrifice are the | | | | the bomb prior to its disposal.And when the bomb |
| same.) How does a parent feel? How does the | | | | detonates at twenty-eight thousand feet per second |
| athlete feel?Case TwoYou scrimp and save for | | | | and kills Charlie, do we care?You better believe it.Let |
| years, sometimes working three jobs, and finally build a | | | | the reader get to know your character before you |
| successful business. At last, you are financially secure | | | | wield the axe... and the tears will flow.(c) Copyright |
| - you can have anything you want. Then your partner, | | | | Marg McAlister Marg McAlister has published |
| having siphoned off all the money, leaves the country. | | | | magazine articles, short stories, books for children, |
| You're bankrupt. At nearly sixty years of age, you | | | | ezines, promotional material, sales letters and web |
| have nothing.So? you're saying. Wouldn't either of | | | | content. She has written 5 distance education courses |
| those two scenarios be good openings for a novel? | | | | on writing, and her online help for writers is popular all |
| Losing your balance at the crucial moment? Going to | | | | over the world. |
| work one day to find you'd lost everything?Yes. Both | | | | |