Tag: think outside the box

Categories
Writing Romance 101

Writing Outside the Box

The essence of Show, Don’t Tell, when it comes to characters is to put your hero or heroine in a situation where they must react. They will show the reader who they are.

In WHAT YOU WISH FOR by Katherine Center, the protagonist, Samantha Casey, experiences a life altering accident and must make a choice: remain invisible in drab grays and beiges or embrace color and step to the front of her life. Sam puts on a hat covered in tissue paper flowers and wears it to work. It’s the beginning of her renaissance and shows the reader the choice she made.  

Ann B. Ross’ character, Miss Julia, anchors a fun series. Miss Julia often speaks and acts as you’d expect a Southern lady of a certain age to, but she often surprises the reader also. In MISS JULIA SPEAKS HER MIND, she is shocked to learn her staid, pedantic, opinionated, controlling, and newly dead husband has left behind a love child. Instead of denying the boy’s existence or trying to hide him, Miss Julia allows him—and his mother—into her home. This surprising act is the inciting incident to the whole series and comes to define Miss Julia’s very nature: stronger than she ever imagined.

THE NATURE OF FRAGILE THINGS by Susan Meissner features an Irish immigrant, Sophie, who decides to marry a widower in San Francisco in 1905, based on a newspaper ad. The why is revealed throughout the book, but at the beginning the reader is told Sophie was tired of living in a cold New York tenement and wanted a change. She’s a woman who takes charge of her life, evidenced by the cross-country move to marry a stranger.

To make your characters come even more alive in the reader’s mind, craft them into more than a cliché. Give them an unexpected aspect to their personality.

In RIGHT HERE WAITING by Susan May Warren and Michelle Sass Aleckson, the heroine, Jae, is a petite Korean American former-military helicopter pilot. No clichés there. 

In RUNAWAY TIDE, Julie Carobini has two bad guys stalking the heroine. Instead of making them typical muscle-bound men in dark suits, she described them as “creepy … hanging around in their flip flops and board shorts … They look kinda like surfers but never actually, uh, surf.” Brilliant.

Maggie O’Farrell’s INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE features a character, Aoife (pronounced Ee-fah. Sort of), who’s described as a free-spirited, bohemian kind of gal. But she’s hiding a deep secret and the reader is definitely surprised when it’s revealed. No spoilers from me, so you’ll have to read it yourself to see if O’Farrell pulls it off.

It’s okay to start with a clichéd character or archetype but play with them.

Put them in a situation out of their comfort zone and see what happens. If it surprises you, it will surprise your reader. If it surprises your reader, they will keep turning the pages. All the way to the end.

Carrie Padgett lives in Central California, close to Yosemite, but far from Hollywood, the beach, and the Golden Gate Bridge. She believes in faith, families, fun, and happily ever afters. She writes contemporary fiction with romance. She recently signed a contract with Sunrise Publishing to co-write a romance novel with New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hauck that will be published in 2022. Carrie and her husband live in the country with their high-maintenance cat and laid-back dog, within driving distance of their six grandchildren.

You can find her online at:

Categories
Kids Lit

Get a New Perspective! Find a New Twist!

Kids Lit

Once in a while, I come across a book so unique and wonderful that I think, “Wow, I sure wish I’d written that book.” (I bet you do the same.) For example, when I first read Adam Rex’s “School’s First Day of School” (Roaring Brook Press), I actually said out loud in the bookstore, “Now, why didn’t I think of that?” In this charming story, Rex puts a new twist on an old concept—children being afraid of the first day of school. Hundreds of books have been written on that topic. In fact, I wrote one called, “My First Day of School” (WorthyKids) in 2017, and though I like how it turned out, it’s certainly not as clever as “School’s First Day of School” which is told from the school building’s perspective.

In Rex’s book, the school expresses all of the same emotions many children experience on that first day of school—excitement, jitters, anticipation, embarrassment and more.

That’s a perfect example of taking a tired topic and breathing new life into it. Publisher’s Weekly thought so, too, stating the following in its review: “Every so often, a book comes along with a premise so perfect, it’s  hard to believe it hasn’t been done before; this is one of those books.”

Let me give you another example of how a gifted author took what could have been a straightforward, boring biography about two well-known historical figures but instead crafted copy that’s touching hearts around the world. It’s a book called, “Martin & Anne” by my friend and fellow Nonfiction Ninja Nancy Churnin.

In “Martin & Anne” (Creston Books), readers are taken on a journey that explores the lives of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank—two history makers born the same year on different continents. Churnin details how both faced discrimination from the time they were very young. Martin Luther King, Jr. faced “Whites only” signs while Anne Frank grew up facing “No Jews allowed” policies. They were kindred spirits who suffered untimely deaths yet impacted the world while they were here.

Do you see what Churnin did so brilliantly here? Can you identify the twist? Instead of writing the typical biography, Churnin created a type of comparison/contrast book, paralleling the lives of these two extraordinary people—Martin & Anne. She didn’t write a chronological retelling of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life, nor did she write just another ordinary biography about Anne Frank. She found a new way to share important details about these two historical figures’ lives. This book is more than clever; it’s inspired.

So, how can you get a new perspective on an old topic or put a new twist on a tired tale? Force yourself to think outside the box and never accept your first thoughts about how to tell the story. Explore several options, sharing the story from various points of view, and see which version is stronger. Also, look for the little-known details about common stories and see if you can build on those facts to create a unique book that will wow the editors of Publisher’s Weekly, and more importantly, inspire a new generation of readers.

Michelle Medlock Adams is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author of over 90 books with close to 4 million sold. Her many journalism and book awards include top honors from the Associated Press, AWSA’s Golden Scroll for Best Children’s Book, and the Selah Award for Best Children’s Book. Michelle currently serves as President of Platinum Literary Services, a premier full-service literary firm; Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Serious Writer, Inc.; and a much sought-after speaker at writers conferences and women’s retreats all over the United States.  

When not writing or teaching writing, Michelle enjoys bass fishing and cheering on the Indiana University Basketball team, the Chicago Cubbies, and the LA Kings.

 Michelle is celebrating the recent release of her books, Get Your Spirit On!, Fabulous & Focused, Dinosaur Devotions, and C Is for Christmas, and she’s anticipating the upcoming release of What Is America? (Worthy Kids) and They Call Me Mom (Kregel), a devotional book she co-authored with Bethany Jett.