Digging Deeper

By Lisa Harris, Author of Deadly Intentions

When I first started writing, I remember taking the first chapter of a story to my critique group and reading it out loud to them. I was unpublished, but somehow knew I had a gripping best-seller on my hands. At least that’s what I thought until they told me the truth. They recommended that I take my chapter home and rewrite it because my characters were nothing more than cardboard figures.

Ouch.

I’ve learned a lot about writing since then, and one of my main goals now is insuring my characters come to life for the reader. But how do you do that? I know many authors who interview their characters before they start writing, or use an excel sheet to keep track of motivations and fears. While I don’t do either of those, I do work hard to get to know my characters while I’m writing, and always insure I know their past, because at some point, I want their past and present to collide. I want to make the story personal. And here’s the reason why.

I watch a lot of police procedural shows and one of the things I’ve noticed is that when the main characters’ lives are at stake, I’m much more involved in the story compared to when it’s just another case to solve. Realizing this has made me think about my own writing. The deeper my hero and heroine are involved in the plot on a personal level, the more they have to lose when things go wrong. And in turn, the deeper my readers will engage with my stories.

For example, in Deadly Intentions, my hero, Josh Solomon, ends up hunting for his wife’s killer. This situation gives him a very haunting backstory that merges the past with the present. The result is a very personal involvement for Josh as he races to find a startling truth that could affect thousands.

There are many questions you can ask to bring out your characters’ personalities using detailed lists that you can find online. Make sure, though, that you move beyond the basic physical appearance and job description. What are their secret dreams and desires? What have they lost in life? What do they fear? What do they want? Do they have any vices? What do they see when they look in the mirror? Then find a way to tie those into the story. In the end, you’ll have story that jumps off the page and into the readers’ hearts!

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Bestselling author LISA HARRIS is a Christy Award finalist for Blood Ransom and Vendetta, Christy Award winner for Dangerous Passage, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 (Blood Covenant) and 2015 (Vendetta) from Romantic Times. She has sold over half a million books. She and her family have spent over fourteen years working as missionaries in Africa where she runs a small non-profit organization that works alongside their church-planting ministry. The ECHO Project promotes Education, Compassion, Health, and Opportunity and is a way to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves...the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice." (Proverbs 31:8) When she's not working she loves hanging out with her family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography, and heading into the African bush on safari. For more information about her books and life in Africa visit her website at www.lisaharriswrites.com

FINDING WRITING SUCCESS

By Lisa Harris

For many years I wrote, waiting—hoping—to find publishing success. When the day finally came when I signed a contract with my dream publisher, I was convinced it would change my life.  

And it did.

But not in the way I’d imagined. I was still a basically unknown writer, but all of a sudden there were many more expectations and a whole lot more stress on me to write a series where each book was better than the one before.

Not exactly what I’d imagined.

As a writer, you might be a lot like me. Spending too much time peaking at your Amazon ranking, wondering whythat author got a nominated for an award when you didn’t (and should have), and checking the bestsellers list to see if your name has happened to magically appear. Clearly, our egos have a tendency to become fragile when it comes to stories that are so close to our heart.

My idea of success, though, has changed over the past few years. For a long time, I was convinced that success as a writer would somehow solve all of my problems. But then I met authors who had ‘arrived’, and I realized that their lives were far from perfect. They still dealt with loss, sickness, and hardships with kids, and yes, even feelings of low self-esteem. How was that even possible?

It’s possible because success doesn’t make us immune to the difficulties life throws our way. Success can be a blessing, but it’s not something we can base our happiness on. Because success—as we all know—is fleeting.

We all have different definitions of what success would be to us. Maybe it’s simply to land that first contract. Maybe it’s to get in with our dream publisher. To be nominated for an award, or hit the best seller list. None of these dreams are bad. In fact, we all know that we won’t reach a goal if we don’t set it and go after it. But there are several things we have to remember along the journey.

           

1.     Often what we think we have to have is far less satisfying when we finally get it.  

2.     Don’t let yourself get caught up in things that will be over in a flash.

3.     Don’t let your confidence come from your Amazon rank, or anything else that is temporary.

4.     Don’t neglect your faith, family, and friends in order to find success.  Life is simply too short.

5.     Do set goals and reach for them.

6.     Do celebrate your successes, while keeping in mind that they aren’t what defines you.

7.     When reaching your goals (finding your success) seems impossible, make a list of what you already have that’s important to you.

The bottom line is to learn to dream big, but always be thankful for what you have rather than focusing only on what you wish you had.

Happy writing,

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Lisa Harris is a two-time Christy Award finalist (Blood Ransom and Dangerous Passage) and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 from Romantic Times for her novel Blood Covenant. She has sold over thirty novels and novella collections, including her latest release, book two in her Southern Crimes series, Fatal Exchange.She and her family have spent over ten years living as missionaries in Africa where she homeschools, leads a women’s group, and runs a non-profit organization that works alongside their church-planting ministry. The ECHO Project works in southern Africa promoting Education, Compassion, Health, and Opportunity and is a way for her to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” (Proverbs 31:8)When she’s not working she loves hanging out with her family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography, and heading into the African bush on safari.  For more information about her books and life in Africa visit her website at www.lisaharriswrites.com or her blog athttp://myblogintheheartofafrica.blogspot.com. For more information about The ECHO Project, please visit www.theECHOproject.org. Love to Read? Free cozy mystery ebook when you sign up for Lisa's author newsletter!