Weather and Writers

Are you, as a writer, ready for bad weather or emergencies?

Preparing for bad weather can be as simple as having a storm alert radio that will cut on, if dangerous weather approaches, so you can shut down that computer before lightning fries it. The storm alert radio also doesn't interfere with writing like a regular radio for those of us who like to work in quiet. 

Is your computer plugged into an alternate power source (APS) so it won't be damaged or your current work lost if the power goes out?   (If you are still not sure what an APS is, go here: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/911559/APC-Back-UPS-ES-550-Battery/?cm_cat=2000000371 ) 

Most alternate power source makers claim an APS with a surge protector will protect your computer and peripherals from lightning, but nothing will protect electronics from a close lightning hit. A good friend lost everything when lightning hit a transformer over a block away, and he had high-end surge protectors and an APS system. 

The safest thing to do is unplug everything, including the APS. 

Also remember to unplug your modem from the electricity and your computer. Dial-up modems are particularly prone to lightning. A cable modem is supposed to be much safer, but I err on the side of paranoia and unplug mine.

If you have a laptop as well as a desktop, you need to keep it charged to use during bad weather so keep it plugged in, but remember to unplug it, as well, when a storm comes. 

If you want to keep working through bad weather, remember to save a copy of your work to a flash disk, CD, or whatever to move your work to your laptop so you can continue to work. 

Weather preparation isn't just for a short summer or winter storm. It's for major disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and wild fires. Always have a back-up copy of all your works in another location, or, better yet, several locations.

In the days before I wrote by computer, I had paper copies of my books at my home, my mom's beach house and my brother's home near Charlotte. Despite being in different parts of the state, all three homes were damaged by Hurricane Hugo, but the manuscripts stayed safe. That experience has reaffirmed my determination to keep copies of my manuscripts and important papers elsewhere.

These days, I also keep a flash disk copy of my books in my safety deposit box at the bank so I can keep my updates recent. A flash disk or drive, if you're not familiar with the term, is one of those tiny storage units you plug directly into your USB or Firewire connection on your computer or iPod.  (If you still aren't certain what a flash drive is, go here:  http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/357507/Action-Sport-Drives-Burton-Fix-SnowDrive/ )

You can also store your works and your computer contents online at storage sites, but as recent outages and disasters have proven, online or “in the cloud” shouldn’t be your only storage solution.  I have my own personal paranoia about how hacker-proof these sites are, as well, so I’ve avoided using online as a storage solution.

It's always a good idea to have an emergency bag or briefcase for your writing partially packed and ready to go in case you need to get out fast because of an approaching hurricane or wild fire. 

Things to keep in this bag include a power plug for your laptop and an updated flash drive. Also include copies of current book contracts as well as notes, etc., of what you are working with at the time.   A paper list of all  your passwords is another must.

It would also be prudent to have a recent complete copy of your computer drive in case  your home computer is destroyed.

If you use an external hard drive as a backup, you can pack this up very carefully.  (Motion can damage desktop innards.)

This bag is also a good place to store a copy of your house and car insurance, pictures of your valuables, etc., in case disaster strikes. Also include a CD with copies of your favorite family pictures, etc., in case the worst happens, and there's no home to return to.

Make a list of the last minute things you will need to pack and stick that in the front of the bag. When emergencies happen, we tend to forget the most basic things so that list will be well worth the time.

Links of Interest

For reasons unknown, my Wednesday post has vanished.  Here it is again.


Marilynn

MARKET NEWS:  Amazon has started a romance line which will be available in Kindle format, paperback, and audio books.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?ID=1559716&p=irol-newsArticle&c=176060&highlight=

BELIEVABLE DIALOGUE:

http://behlerblog.com/2011/05/05/mmmm-yes-good-dialog-must-you-have/

EVEN SCARIER NEWS ON HOW WRITERS ARE BEING SCREWED BY AGENTS AS WELL AS PUBLISHERS:

http://kriswrites.com/2011/05/04/the-business-rusch-advocates-addendums-and-sneaks-oh-my/

KNOWING YOUR BOOK RIGHTS, WORLD AND OTHERWISE:

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2011/05/in-spring-agents-fancy-turns-to.html

BEWARE THE PAY TO PLAY ANTHOLOGY:

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2011/05/pay-to-play-anthologies.html

HOOKING THE READER IN BOTH THE BRAIN AND THE HEART:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/11/what-i-learned-at-world-fantasy-week_04.html

DNA FORENSICS:  New technologies make it almost as fast as shown on CSI TV shows.

http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/new-rapid-dna-technology/

FINDING THE PERFECT CRITIQUE GROUP:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/09/youve-got-to-have-friends.html

DOING PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES RIGHT:

http://sarafurlongburr.blogspot.com/2011/05/prologues-and-epilogues-and-opinions-oh.html

DEEP POV:

http://terryodell.blogspot.com/2011/05/deep-point-of-view.html

DECIDING ON YOUR GENRE BEFORE YOU WRITE THE BOOK:

http://scotteagan.blogspot.com/2011/05/decide-on-your-genre-before-you-write.html

MAGICAL WORLDBUILDING: (Note: The title has absolutely nothing to do with the contents.)

http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/05/09/writing-nowadays-superhero-creep-a-continuing-excerpt-part-3/

GETTING THE SMALL DETAILS RIGHT:

http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/2011/05/does-your-story-maintain-consistency-in.html

Links of Interest

MARKET NEWS:  Amazon has started a romance line which will be available in Kindle format, paperback, and audio books.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?ID=1559716&p=irol-newsArticle&c=176060&highlight=

BELIEVABLE DIALOGUE:

http://behlerblog.com/2011/05/05/mmmm-yes-good-dialog-must-you-have/

EVEN SCARIER NEWS ON HOW WRITERS ARE BEING SCREWED BY AGENTS AS WELL AS PUBLISHERS:

http://kriswrites.com/2011/05/04/the-business-rusch-advocates-addendums-and-sneaks-oh-my/

KNOWING YOUR BOOK RIGHTS, WORLD AND OTHERWISE:

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2011/05/in-spring-agents-fancy-turns-to.html

BEWARE THE PAY TO PLAY ANTHOLOGY:

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2011/05/pay-to-play-anthologies.html

HOOKING THE READER IN BOTH THE BRAIN AND THE HEART:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/11/what-i-learned-at-world-fantasy-week_04.html

DNA FORENSICS:  New technologies make it almost as fast as shown on CSI TV shows.

http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/new-rapid-dna-technology/

FINDING THE PERFECT CRITIQUE GROUP:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/09/youve-got-to-have-friends.html

DOING PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES RIGHT:

http://sarafurlongburr.blogspot.com/2011/05/prologues-and-epilogues-and-opinions-oh.html

DEEP POV:

http://terryodell.blogspot.com/2011/05/deep-point-of-view.html

DECIDING ON YOUR GENRE BEFORE YOU WRITE THE BOOK:

http://scotteagan.blogspot.com/2011/05/decide-on-your-genre-before-you-write.html

MAGICAL WORLDBUILDING: (Note: The title has absolutely nothing to do with the contents.)

http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/05/09/writing-nowadays-superhero-creep-a-continuing-excerpt-part-3/

GETTING THE SMALL DETAILS RIGHT:

http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/2011/05/does-your-story-maintain-consistency-in.html

Others' Goals

Last week, I told you about a first chapter I read, and I talked about the danger of having a Scene Stealer Secondary Character at the beginning of your novel.  

To remind you, here’s a plot summary of the first chapter.

The heroine enters an expensive restaurant and sits down at her father’s table.

He complains she is late, which she is not, and proceeds to berate her for various failings, none of which she thinks she has.  They share a prickly conversation full of personal history subtext and anger.

He tells her that his corporation is having financial troubles, and he’s arranged to have a corporate investor meet him on his private estate for the weekend.  He wants his beautiful daughter there to entertain the corporate savior and show a positive side to his personality.

The heroine has her own financial success thanks to her own hard work and acumen, and she has less than charitable feelings for her father who threw her and her mother out so he could marry a trophy wife and have the son he wanted to inherit the business.  She agrees, however, because she’ll get a chance to see her much younger half-brother whom she adores.  

In the next, much shorter scene, the handsome corporate investor, aka the hero, arrives at the estate in his private plane.  Rather than the limo and the designer clothes her father wanted, she shows up in the caretaker’s Land Rover and she is wearing riding clothes.  Despite this, sexual sparks fly, and they share a bit of banter.  They head to a meeting with Daddy Dearest.

What’s the second major error in this first chapter?  The only person with a strong goal in the first chapter is Dearest Daddy.  The heroine refuses to buy into this goal.

At best, one of her goals is to see her little half-brother which is fine on the small scale but hardly strong to carry a chapter, let alone enough to carry a whole novel forward.  

Her second goal is to annoy her father by not helping him gain the funding.  This goal could carry the whole novel forward, but it isn’t a worthy goal and makes her a heroine the reader can’t root for.  If anything, this goal makes her appear remarkably immature and unworthy of either the hero or the reader’s interest.  

The main character must have a worthy goal that the reader can root for.

To see more of my articles on character goals, please click on the label “character goals”  located on the right side of my blog.

QUESTIONS, I TAKE QUESTIONS:  Do you have a question about writing or publishing?  Ask me!  Contact me via my blog, website, or my Yahoogroups  list.

Links of Interest

AN AGENT CONTRACT CLAUSE TO AVOID:

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2011/04/interminable-agency-clause.html

YET MORE ON EBOOK NUMBERS AND WHAT AUTHORS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PUBLISHING:  (Note: A very good blog to spend hours at reading about the business of publishing.)

http://kriswrites.com/2011/04/27/the-business-rusch-sea-changes/

MY RULE OF THREE AS MENU ITEMS:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/04/rule-of-three-no-other-one.html

SHORT STORY MARKET:  Femmes Fatales, the anthology of lesbian erotic/romantic mystery stories opened on Sunday, May 1. 

http://upstart-crow.livejournal.com/442166.html

SOMEONE ELSE ON NARRATIVE DRIVE AND GOALS:

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2009/09/re-write-wednesday-baby-you-can-drive.html

EIGHT TIPS FOR FANTASY WRITERS:

https://ingridsnotes.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/bruce-covilles-eight-tips-for-fantasy-writers/

WHY ASK WHY?

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/04/why-ask-why-because-your-readers-will.html

CREATING BELIEVABLE RELATIONS BETWEEN CHARACTERS:

http://scribocin.blogspot.com/2011/04/building-believeble-relationships.html

HOW TO TELL WHEN A CHAPTER ISN’T WORKING:

http://behlerblog.com/2011/05/03/how-to-figure-out-when-a-chapter-isnt-working/

PROMOTION:  NONTRADITIONAL WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR BOOK

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/10-nontraditional-ways-to-promote-your-book_b29220

THE PROTAGONIST THAT WORKS:

http://www.genreality.net/the-protagonist

PROMOTION:  Why an author should have Skype.

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2011/05/do-writers-need-skype.html

THE DREADED MIDDLE OF THE BOOK:  How to keep it from sagging.

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/05/one-road-and-talking-about-middles.html

Beware the Scene Stealer

Here’s a plot summary of a  first chapter I read recently.

The heroine enters an expensive restaurant and sits down at her father’s table.

He complains she is late, which she is not, and proceeds to berate her for various failings, none of which she thinks she has.  They share a prickly conversation full of personal history subtext and anger.

He tells her that his corporation is having financial troubles, and he’s arranged to have a corporate investor meet him on his private estate for the weekend.  He wants his beautiful daughter there to entertain the corporate savior and show a positive side to his personality.

The heroine has her own financial success thanks to her own hard work and acumen, and she has less than charitable feelings for her father who threw her and her mother out so he could marry a trophy wife and have the son he wanted to inherit the business.  She agrees, however, because she’ll get a chance to see her much younger half-brother whom she adores.  

In the next, much shorter scene, the handsome corporate investor, aka the hero, arrives at the estate in his private plane.  Rather than the limo and the designer clothes her father wanted, she shows up in the caretaker’s Land Rover and she is wearing riding clothes.  Despite this, sexual sparks fly, and they share a bit of banter.  They head to a meeting with Daddy Dearest.

After I read this chapter, something was bothering me, and I stopped to analyze my feelings.  Sure, this first chapter was pretty standard and cliche-ridden with a I’ve-read-this-more-than-once feeling, but something else was wrong here.  

The first scene was much too long, and this is a romance where the hero and heroine should meet as soon as possible, but, beyond the length, I recognized a greater problem.  In the first scene Daddy Dearest and the heroine’s conversation is filled with emotional subtext, anger, and past history.  Daddy leapt off the page.

In the next scene, the hero was the standard and well-written sexy hero, but he was a flat character in comparison to Daddy Dearest, and the heroine was more about annoying Daddy than she was about the sexy hero.  

Daddy Dearest is a classic example of  the Scene Stealer Secondary Character--the character with the interesting past history or the personal swagger and background to make him far more interesting than the main character or characters.

Scene Stealer Secondaries aren’t necessarily a bad thing, they can liven up a story at times, but they should never be one of the first characters introduced, particularly if the hero hasn’t been introduced.

Here are a few other examples.

In the original STAR WARS movie, what if Han Solo with his sexy swagger, sneer, and interesting history had been introduced before callow farm boy Luke?  

What if in the first PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, Captain Jack Sparrow had been introduced before Orlando Bloom’s character Will?

In both cases, we’d have had less connection and emotional attachment to the main character, less of a sense of who is the hero of the story, and less desire for the main character to reach his goal, not the secondary character’s goal.   We’d be undermining our main characters and pulling the reader away from the story we wanted to tell.

So, beware the Secondary Scene Stealer because he can also steal your story’s successful telling.

In my original example, Daddy Dearest isn’t the only problem with this first chapter.  In next week’s blog, I’ll discuss the other failure in this first chapter.