Change the World With Your Writing ~Taking the Character to Greater Heights – Part 2

p. m. terrell   @pmterrell

“Perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it.” – Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

In Part 1, we looked at power and corruption as characters—both real and imagined—rise to greater heights. There is another possibility as one rises to power, that of benevolence.

Professor Dumbledore, in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, is the Headmaster at Hogwarts. He could use this position for greed or personal gain, but he uses it instead to fight dark forces, including the evil Lord Voldemort.

Glenda the Good Witch, in L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, is a perfect example of a powerful yet benevolent character. Though she possesses the command of magic, she has chosen to use it for good and not evil. Because so many of us remember her is a testament to using a benevolent individual as a minor character as well as a major one.

Police Chief Brody in Peter Benchley’s Jaws is another example of a character in a powerful position that genuinely cares about the community he polices. We care about what happens to him, from battling the mayor to keep the beaches safe to fighting for his life as the shark tears apart his boat.

Gandalf in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is a white wizard. Like Glenda the Good Witch, he could use his power for evil or personal gain, but he chooses to use it for good.

Then there are those characters that are not generally in a dominant position, but find themselves able to save others in a life-or-death situation. A real-life example is Doss Desmond, an unassuming man in World War II that others saw as a coward because he did not wish to take another’s life. Faced with the horrific circumstances of Hacksaw Ridge at Okinawa, he managed to save 75 of his fellow soldiers while under heavy enemy fire—and he did it one at a time. The book Redemption at Hacksaw Ridge by Booton Herndon, inspired the blockbuster movie, Hacksaw Ridge.

Courage under fire often inspires writers, as it did Stephen Crane, who wrote of Private Henry Fleming in The Red Badge of Courage, who first flees from the field of battle but returns later to carry the flag. It is this battle that Henry finds his courage.

Whether the protagonist is powerful in a malevolent or benevolent manner, it could be one pivotal scene in which either the good or evil rises within them or a series of scenes that lead to the book’s conclusion.

 p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 24 books ranging from historical to suspense. One example of taking a character to greater heights is found in her latest release,
A Struggle for Independence, in which Lady Independence Mather must find courage and purpose in the 1916 Irish Easter Rising, which led to the Irish War for Independence.

Change The World With Your Writing ~Taking the Character to Greater Heights (Part 1)

p. m. terrell       @pmterrell

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - John Dalberg-Acton, 1887 letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton


There are several ways in which authors can incorporate power-hungry characters in their books. One way is to use them as protagonists. We can take our hero from the depths of despair or harsh physical conditions to the height of power and watch them transform in the process. The influence they attain can either move them closer to the light and benevolence or into the darkness and malevolence.

Change the World With Your Writing~Taking Characters to Greater Depths (Part 2)

p. m. terrell     @pmterrell

Award-winning "Twist and Turn" author

In Part 1, we explored external factors that plunge the main character into a journey of transformation. In Part 2, we explore the internal force that can accomplish the transformation.

An internal force is something that the character suffers due to their own action or inaction, plunging them into a personal journey.

Inaction occurs when the character should have taken steps to avoid a potentially cataclysmic event, but their efforts either fell short or were nothing at all. An example is when the character hears that tiny voice urging them not to take that deserted road, but they ignore it and do so anyway. Of course, the road leads to danger, and they must discover an inner part of themselves to overcome the obstacles in their path, escape the danger, and arrive on the other side.

Change the World with Your Writing:Taking Characters to Greater Depths (Part 1)

p.m. terrell   @pmterrell

Award-winning "Twist and Turn" author

Heraclitus, the famed Greek philosopher, said that “change is the only constant in life.”

When envisioning readers, it’s important to understand that each one is undergoing change. Changes may be subtle, such as steadily growing older. Other changes may be dramatic, like a sudden personality change. Some can be seen with the naked eye, such as a spine that’s more stooped, while others are invisible because they are taking place internally.

A book that stands the test of time and becomes a classic is one in which the main character is completely transformed. This often occurs when an average individual encounters extraordinary circumstances. Those situations may be positive or negative on their surfaces, such as winning a lottery or losing a limb, respectively. However, what begins as a positive or negative often transforms the character in the opposite direction. It is that spiral that the accomplished writer should seek to portray, and the more detailed the circumstances, oddly, the more readers will identify with the character.

Change the World with Your Writing: Character Conflicts That Can Actually Help Your Reader (Part 2)

Continuing Series: Change the World with Your Writing


p. m. terrell  @pmterrell

To refresh our memory, Part 1 we looked talked about a gripping read must have at least one character with which the reader can identify. A book that makes an impact is one in which the conflict this character must face places the reader in a position to empathize with their situation and consider how they would handle it if they were in the character’s shoes. We looked at the top three stressors and here we will list others individuals can face in their lifetime:

        4.  A major illness or injury or a loss of capacity. The book could begin with a fit character, but an unexpected illness or accident embarks them on a journey that will change their life.

       5. A move. One of the most common backdrops involves taking a character out of their comfort zone, the place they are most familiar with, and move them to a distinctly different location. This works in any genre from Jay Anson’s Amityville Horror to Jean Grainger’s The Tour. It works against the backdrop of war or peacetime, conflict through romance.

          6. Change in employment. Starting a new job can be exhilarating but also stressful. Throw in coworkers that test your patience, sabotage your work, or place the character in a moral or ethical dilemma, and the reader can instantly identify. Throw in a stressful or challenging assignment they must handle, such as impending war or an asteroid, and you have the makings of a page-turner.

      7.  Loss of income. From the stock market crash to the loss of a farm or job, the reader can easily step into the character’s shoes and wonder how they would handle a similar situation.

       8.  Additions to the family. As the main plot or a subplot, a new marriage, or an addition to the family always changes the dynamics. This is often part of the backdrop but can take on more significance depending on the genre and plot.

       9.  Natural disasters. From romance to mysteries to literary fiction, any story gains an extra layer of suspense when set against an impending flood, forest fire, earthquake, tsunami, hurricane or cyclone.

      10   The loss of their world. Throughout history, there have been major upheavals frequently involving war or climate change that incorporate several of the stressors listed above. After World War II, for example, there was a massive migration of Europeans. In our present time, massive migrations are occurring in the war-torn Middle East as well as parts of the world most affected by climate change. This can result in the loss of loved ones, separations, loss of employment and income, and other challenging factors.

       As I said in Part 1 on the 17th of February, Adding stressors such as these can impact the reader’s perspective. Crises that are completely outside the power of the individual are particularly riveting. The loss of normalcy strikes at the heart of any reader. By causing the reader to ponder their own actions in such situations, it results in greater empathy. In turn, this increases understanding of the world in which we live, and if we can more adequately understand its people and conflicts, we can make the world a better place.

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        Change the World with Your Writing:  Character Conflicts That Can Actually Help Your Reader          (Part 2) p.m. terrell (click to tweet)

p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 24 books ranging from historical to suspense. She has used stressors in many of her books, including divorce (A Thin Slice of Heaven), a new job (Kickback), moving to a new place (Vicki’s Key), and others. Her most popular books, Songbirds are Free and River Passage, are creative nonfiction about her ancestors’ roles in migrating west in America while many of her suspense incorporate Ireland, her ancestral home, including Checkmate: Clans and Castles.

What are you Writing to Change the World?

By p.m.terrell, Columnist for Southern Writers Magazine

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, recently posed this question to businesses: how is your business changing the world? As I pondered this, I realized that for authors, the question is: how is your writing changing the world?

A book’s lifespan can far outlive an author’s mortality, especially with the invention of ebooks. When you consider the books you have read, there is a chance that at least half are by authors that have long since passed. From Shakespeare to Dickens, Robert B. Parker to Stieg Larsson, their books continue to resonate with new generations of readers—and yours should, too.

Below are some of the ways authors can go from average to great in writing books that stand the test of time. Each of these subjects will be discussed in detail in Southern Writers Magazine in upcoming issues, including tips and techniques.

1.      Consider using historical backdrops, especially with circumstances that tend to repeat throughout history, such as war or migration.

2.      Select character conflicts with which the vast majority can identify. It can be a parent losing a child, a lost love, financial disaster, medical challenges, or a natural disaster that leads to the reader pondering what they might do under those circumstances.

3.      Take your characters to greater depths, tightening the noose as far as you can. Their climb upward will be all the more inspiring.

4.      Take your characters to greater heights, depicting how power, fame, or wealth can impact a person for good or evil.

5.      Find your roots. Ancestry websites are some of the most popular on the Internet, and more people are traveling to their ancestral homes. Your story may resonate with millions, even if it is a fictionalized account. 

6.      Use your settings to educate readers. Geography determines a character’s destiny; a character emerging from Main Street USA will have vastly different experiences from one in war-torn Syria, poverty-stricken Niger, or the streets of Paris.

7.      Inspire inventions and innovation. Science fiction authors have inspired everything from artificial limbs to robots and journeys to outer space, but any other genre can include a character that is an inventor, a scientist, researcher, or back yard tinkerer.

8.      Incorporate your passion. If you are passionate about child welfare, animal rescue, homelessness, climate change, migration, plastics in our oceans, or any other social cause, you can incorporate it into your writing. It might be a major or minor character facing any of those challenges or someone that helps to rescue one less fortunate.

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p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 24 books ranging from historical to suspense. She details how she conducts historical research from the Internet to traveling the world in her most recent release, April in the Back of Beyond. Her most popular books, Songbirds are Free and River Passage, are creative nonfiction about her ancestors’ roles in migrating west in America while many of her suspense incorporate Ireland, her ancestral home, including Checkmate: Clans and Castles.

Why You Must Constantly Identify Your Target Market

By p.m.terrell

Your target market consists of your ideal reader: the one that stays up all night turning the pages, writes glowing reviews, recommends your books to friends, family and groups and eagerly awaits your next release.

In a recent edition of Southern Writers Magazine, I provided tips to defining your ideal target market even if you have no idea who they are. This process should be performed with every title.

My first suspense, Kickback, was published in 2002. I worked with the publisher’s marketing department for several months to identify my ideal reader. This being my first suspense, I was starting at Ground Zero. We identified bestselling authors within the same genre, discovering the demographics through their reader reviews and social media. I then participated in extensive book tours, which brought me face to face with potential buyers, learning quickly which ones showed interest. I was also a spokesperson for the Virginia Crime Stoppers Association, which brought my titles in front of law enforcement officers. All told, my audience tended to be conservative, religious (particularly evangelical), Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) and older GenX (born 1965-1980).

Flash forward to 2012 when Vicki’s Key was released. My editor suggested I take the bedroom scene further; as she described it, I had become “an expert at taking the reader to the bedroom door”—now she wanted me to take them inside. After several rewrites, I detailed much more than I ever had before. Little did I know this one scene changed my demographics. My existing audience told me they wanted to be left at the door.

I also read declassified CIA documents for plot ideas (which I highly recommend: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/home) and I came upon materials on the remote viewer program, which continue within intelligence and defense agencies, including the United States, Russia and China. This was a character’s dream career, because I could take them around the world, involving them in a variety of plots. So the main character in Vicki’s Key became a remote viewer. The same demographic audience I had targeted for the previous ten years didn’t like Vicki’s job; one reader told me it was science fiction.

Despite great reviews, sales slumped compared to my earlier titles—until we adjusted the target market. It turned out that a liberal audience was more likely to believe in the work of remote viewers; even though it was based in fact, conservatives remained skeptical. Evangelicals were also less likely to believe in the metaphysical, unless they were depicted as angels. Older audiences did not like more graphic love scenes, though Millennials thought I could have taken it even further. Rural audiences were less likely to enjoy quantum physics (which remote viewing is based upon) or more graphic love scenes; urban audiences were more open-minded. Once we adjusted the target market to urban progressives, Millennials, and identified key words and phrases associated with quantum physics and psychic phenomena, we connected with the right audience and sales skyrocketed.

Lesson learned: with every book I have written since, I have taken the time to identify the correct audience.

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p.m.terrellis the internationally acclaimed, award-winning author of more than 21 suspense, historical and non-fiction titles. She is also the founder of Book 'Em North Carolina (http://bookemnc.org) and The Novel Business (http://thenovelbusiness.com), designed to help authors increase their sales. Social Links: Website: www.pmterrell.com

Blog: www.pmterrell.blogspot.com  Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmterrell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pmterrell.author/

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/terrellpm

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmterrell
 

USING A FORMULA – WITHOUT WRITING FORMULA BOOKS

By p.m.terrell 

Ever since my first suspense was published in 2002, I have been asked to write a series. There is something about opening a book and already knowing the characters that makes the reader feel as if they are visiting old friends. The action can happen more quickly and the characters have more space to become multi-faceted.

I resisted writing a series, however, because I didn’t want to become a formula writer. We all have read series in which we knew what was going to happen next because the author uses the same outline for each book. The crime might change, the scenery might transform, but the action, the climax and the wrap-up are almost identical.

I began writing my first series, which reviewers consider my best work, two years ago. And along the way, I’ve made a few notes on how to use a formula that readers love without writing a formula book.

Diverse Main Characters

I decided in lieu of featuring one main character that my Black Swamp Mysteries series would include an ensemble cast, much like those of a dramatic television series. Each character has to be distinctly different from the others and yet blend well. I decided on an introverted psychic spy, an extroverted CIA ground operative, a bad-girl computer hacker, and a political strategist who often straddles the line between right and wrong.

Surprising Plot Twists

With an ensemble cast forever tied together through blood or circumstance, one or more of the main characters can rise to the forefront depending on the plot. In Vicki’s Key, the focus was on the psychic spy, Vicki Boyd. In Secrets of a Dangerous Woman, the focus became the bad-girl computer hacker, Brenda Carnegie—who just happens to be Vicki’s sister. Complete opposites, they are inseparable due to those familial ties. Dylan’s Song brought Irishman Dylan Maguire, the CIA ground operative and Vicki’s love interest, to the forefront.

Varied Locations

Three of the main characters—Vicki, Dylan and Brenda—live in a small town based on the very real Lumberton, North Carolina. But Vicki’s psychic powers (inspired by the real CIA psychic spy program) allow her to travel the world in her mind—and take us there as well. Dylan’s and Brenda’s work, though often on opposite sides of the law, take them around the world to exotic locations. By starting and ending the books in a familiar town but allowing them movement, the changing backdrop makes the stories more exciting.

Two Climactic Scenes

I often hear writers speak of working toward a final climactic scene and sometimes how daunting that can be. Instead, I work toward a pivotal scene in the middle of the book. This means the first half of the book is laying the groundwork for an exciting scene that changes everything—and from that midpoint to the end of the book it becomes a roller coaster ride of non-stop action.

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p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 18 books. Prior to becoming a full-time writer in 2002, she opened two computer companies in the Washington, DC area. Her clients included the CIA, Secret Service and Department of Defense. Her specialties are computer intelligence and computer crimes, both of which often inspire her suspense writing. She is the co-founder of The Book 'Em Foundation whose slogan is Buy a Book and Stop a Crook, and the founder of Book 'Em North Carolina, an annual Writers' Conference and Book Fair. Twitter: @pmterrell Website: www.pmterrell.com and Book 'Em North Carolina: www.bookemnc.org Blogs: www.pmterrell.blogspot.com and 

www.vickisangelfish.blogspot.com (inspired by her character's CIA front as an angelfish breeder)   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.p.m.terrell