Courage- The Pirate Way.

How does one follow the great Anna Campbell? By requesting another round of rum in her honor… Of course!

After a wonderful blog and response yesterday, I thought about everything she talked about. One thing that stuck with me was courage. Anna’s first novel “Claiming the Courtesan” was about a woman who under extreme circumstances always had courage. She kept her head held high. No matter what happened she kept putting one foot in front of the other. She did what she had to do and suffered the consequences (severe ones). And eventually she persevered (with a wonderful HEA at the end, might I add). Anna Campbell’s heroine, Verity/Soraya, not only had the courage but the determination that made the reader fall in love with a character. But to write a character like that, the writer must have the same type of courage. The same infallible characteristic to take risks and go ahead no matter what anyone says to you. And I admire that in characters and in writers.

Writer’s take chances every day while they are writing. For me it’s the ability to get a rush from doing something in fiction I can’t do in everyday life. It’s the ability to wield a gun and chase down the bad guys. The ability to be in a high speed car chase and come out without a scratch. And it’s the ability to have the courage to have my main character do the things that would take extreme amounts of courage to even consider doing, but in her personality it’s just something she does and thinks about later. But it takes courage to put thoughts and words on paper (or a Word document) and it takes even more courage to let that baby fly and hand it off for someone else’s eyes. It takes courage to write scenes that are considered taboo and stand your ground when asked to change it for the sake of reader sensibilities. And it takes courage to stand by your written word no matter what the outcome. And that’s what I love about writers. The passion for what they are doing. Writing is a constant learning process where no matter how close you get to perfection, you’re still not there. It takes courage to face up to that day after day, time after time; and grin and bear it through the rough times and keep believing that the sunshine is just around the corner.

There have been times when I’m writing a particular scene and thought to myself, I would’ve never been able to do this myself. I could’ve never told him that I loved him. I could’ve never told him not to go and I’ll worry about the consequences in dawn’s early light. Never could’ve watched him walk out that door and not even look back. Or held the tears back as I walked back inside and pretended like my world wasn’t falling apart.

So my question to you is, have you written a scene where you felt that real life emotion come back to haunt you? Righted a past wrong by fictionalizing it? And if you haven’t, have you ever thought about it?

Making it Original

I was very excited to say the least when I was invited aboard Cap’n Jack’s ship. I had some reservations. I have never been a crewmember aboard a sea faring vessel. I have some experience straddling a cannon, just not on the deck of a ship… I want to tow my share of the the rope, but I realize the wenches aboard this great vessel are far more sea worthy than me.

Although I lack experience in the writing world, I wanted to be apart of this adventure to get my sea legs so to speak. I understand the basics of writing a novel. I know I need a character sketch, an outline, a plot, a synopsis and a query letter when the time comes. I know I need an agent and eventually a publisher. I know I need a heroine and a hero and I understand why a protagonist needs an antagonist. I need a muse to feed me, but she can only help provide the words and direction. My problem is getting past the first important step in writing a novel.

I have tried on occasion to do a character sketch and I have succeeded…in creating the perfect Mary Sue. My heroine always turns out exactly the way I wish I could be. My hero is always the most dead sexy male fantasy that I could ever imagine. Hell I even love to hate my villains.

Therefore, my question is this. How do you create characters with believable flaws that you can still embrace as your own? Do you have to like your heroine? More importantly, does it serve a purpose for her to behold qualities you find irritating?

I know the drill; never create a character that has the physical attributes and abilities that you find unattainable. This I can understand, where the line gets a little grey for me, is how I can create a heroine I believe in if she doesn’t share some of my own aspirations.

If I can embrace my characters, I can pass on that emotional connection to my readers. I want to create a hero and heroine that captivate the reader long after they close my book. I am excited about creating lives and situations for characters that I can call my own. However, I want them to be realistic, not superficial. I want to walk away at the completion of my novel and have pride in knowing I created characters readers want to believe are more real than fiction.

With that being said, I think the first order of business is to swab the deck of all extra baggage.

*Looking sternly at Mary Sue who is hunkered down in the bow of the ship*

“You‘ve been a cast away aboard this ship long enough. Come forth wench and walk the plank.”

Cat-O-Nine Tip of the Day

Nothing profound. If you want profound, read Sin's blog again, then fake your way happily through your current chapter in progress. What are you doing, shirking about on blogs when you should be writing anyway? What do you think this is anyway? A bloody cruise?

Here are your inspirations...pirated straight out of an email about writing quotations.

Often I'll find clues to where the story might go by figuring out where the characters would rather not go.
~Doug Lawson

A story has been thought to its conclusion when it has taken its worst possible turn.
~Friedrich Durrenmatt

Cat-o-Nine Writing Tip of the Day: make your characters suffer. Give them a boat, then blow holes in it. Make them captain, mutiny, then maroon them on an island. (*gimlet stare at Sin and BSTerrio* Don't be gettin' any ideas!) Send your single character out on a date, then have the date turn out to be a pig killer with video feeds. Suffering makes character. Remember that.

Now get back to writing.

Tomorrow, Powder Monkey Lisa will blog about the merits of...I'm not sure really. Does anyone have any idea what PM Lisa will be talking about? No? Well, that's a bit frightening, isn't it? She could talk about anything then...

Well, who said there wasn't any danger in pirating?