Off the Bookshelf: CREATING CHARACTER ARCS, by K.M. Weiland

Character arcs is one of those writing-related topics that can send even experienced, published authors running for Mommy. Right up there with writing the synopsis and the query letter and creating characters that are believable and avoid being stereotypes.

What is a character arc?

It's basically the change that takes place either in the main character or in the world around the character. And no, it isn't that simple. Because if it was that simple, it wouldn't drive some writers to massive doses of chocolate or other social drugs of choice to self-medicate from the mental strain and agony.

Planning how your character is going to change and grow and learn -- or be so strong in his inner truth that he forces the world to change -- means knowing your character down deep. You have to know the things that have made the character what she is before the story starts. You have to know the weaknesses. The dreams. The fears. The little lies and hopes and secret pains that are going to be revealed during the progress of the story, so the character changes, positively or negatively, depending on how she reacts to those things.

Yeah -- not that simple. But you get the idea? Weiland goes through several different kinds of character arcs, including a FLAT character arc. How can an arc be flat? Easy -- read the book and learn. Weiland walks through each step of the process, figuring out the character's past and present and hopeful or dreaded future, and charts where in the course of the story each revelation or challenge or change needs to appear, for the story to work and for the arc to make sense. Yeah, that does sound simple, but still not that simple. It takes practice.

This is one of those books you'll need to read at regular intervals, to brush up on the advice and tips and patterns during your writing career. Thank goodness someone wrote it!

Off the Bookshelf: SIREN'S FURY, by Mary Weber

The second book in Mary Weber's Storm Siren trilogy is ... painful!

No, not the writing. Not the voice or style. Not the experience.

The torture she inflicts on her characters. The struggles of growth and sacrifice and self-doubt.

At the end of book 1, Nym was ready to celebrate defeating an enemy. She had a bright future ahead of her. Instead of being thoroughly reviled, living as a slave, she was considered a heroine, even though she was still feared. She was learning to control her Elemental powers. There was this guy ...

Then on the last pages, she found out that the enemy she thought was dead and defeated ... wasn't. Even worse than that, this particular nasty had taken over the body of the man she was ready to try to find some "happily ever after" with, which kind of kills the mood, y'know?

This book is about her struggle to face her duty -- kill the invader before he can ruin everything she spent the previous book sacrificing and bleeding for.

So yeah, painful.

But it's  a beautiful, terrible struggle and battle and learning time. Wow ....

The end of this book, despite seeming to be so very dreadful and frustrating, has an upward tilting mood, because there's hope. Maybe. Then again, the second book or second movie of a trilogy always has this "we're never going to get out of this in one piece," sensation, and the awful suspicion that the worst is yet to come. Yet there's hope.

Love it.
Read it.

Off the Bookshelf: FLYTE, by Angie Sage

FLYTE is the second book in the Septimus Heap series.

It's magic -- or according to the title of the first book, Magyk.

Septimus is the 7th son of the 7th son, which means he has great magic potential and is destined for incredible things. Which is the whole reason he was kidnapped at birth -- in the first book -- to turn him into the apprentice of an evil magician trying to take over the kingdom. Fortunately, there was a lot "switched at birth" confusion going on, and he ended up some place not quite as nasty and dangerous -- but close.

In FLYTE, Septimus has been reunited with his family and is now in his destined place as the apprentice for Marcia, the leader of all the wizards in the kingdom. She has some problems to deal with, starting with a nasty shadow that's trailing her, and including more treachery, more deception, and a dead enemy who just won't give up. Then there's Septimus' oldest brother, who believes that he's been robbed of what was never promised to him in the first place -- apprenticeship to the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. He's out to get revenge and put someone else in power, and that makes things rough for Septimus and the family he's just starting to get to know, including his adopted sister, Jenna -- who just happens to be the heir to the throne, born on the same day as Septimus, and who took his place when the midwife kidnapped him.

Yeah, complicated but a lot of fun. I love the details of this magical world, the humor, the sense that this is all so very believable.  Oh, yeah, and FLYTE refers to, well ... the ability to fly.

You don't really have to start with book 1, MAGYK, to understand what's going on, but you really should. Great fun. And I'm so glad that the next book is sitting in my bookshelf (Thanks to a humongous sale at Half-Price Books) and waiting to be read. Not right away, though. But soon!

Off the Bookshelf: CULTURE MAKING, by Andy Crouch

This was another book recommended by one of the speakers at last year's Realm Makers conference. Can't remember which speaker right now, but whoever you are, you know who you are and I thank you.

This book is one that writers and artists and people working with people should probably read at least once a year. Just to get our heads back on track and lead us to evaluate what we're doing and why.

Culture is a tricky thing to identify. It goes beyond the family and ethnic traditions we grew up in, and beyond the "culture pressure" that we're constantly feeling, which includes political correctness (IMO, there is nothing "correct" about politics and people thinking they can define right and wrong for the entire world. The only one with any right to do that is God ((because, y'know, He MADE us, and you just don't rewrite the Owner's Manual and tell the inventor He did it wrong!)), and when you try to rewrite what He said ... not smart! To misquote Jay Leno when speaking about the travesty of the TV movie about Noah ((seriously? Pirates attacking Noah's ark?))... "Who rewrites God?")

Anyway .... sorry about the rant ... Culture is around us, and we affect culture and it affects us. Or do we really affect it? That's one of the considerations -- do we really impact culture at all? Do we make any difference in the world? Can we steer this juggernaut of opinions and materialism and economics and fashion and tyranny and charity and popularity and all the other bits and pieces that go into forming this indefinable, all-devouring blob called culture? We can't really change the world, but we can improve the corner we're in, and do what we know God has called us to do and then ... well, don't tie yourself into knots and blow a gasket over what you can't change. The first step is to do what you can where you can, and get your eyes off yourself and back on the One whose opinion and approval really matter. The rest will take care of itself.

Yeah, I need to read this book a few more times to really figure out what's going on. But anything that makes us think and try to see through the fog is a good thing.

Off the Bookshelf: ECHOES IN DEATH by J.D. Robb

Love the characters, the character interaction, the character development in the In Death series by J.D. Robb.

ECHOES IN DEATH brings some old problems and memories and pain a little closer for futuristic homicide detective Eve Dallas. A serial killer is out there, with a specific target -- wealthy, childless couples with gorgeous wives. He breaks in, abuses them, rapes the wives, and takes souvenirs or trophies -- including the women's clothes. What makes him hard to track is that he knows what he's doing, he hides his trail, and he uses movie monster disguises -- or in the case where torturing the husband turns into murder, he appears to be the devil.

The case gets complicated when testimony indicates the high-power surgeon husband was universally disliked, and the suspicion grows that he abused his wife -- now a traumatized widow. Dallas and her team track down the killer despite their growing dislike for the victim, and the memories of her own abusive childhood that awaken.