Author Liesel K. Hill's Musings on Fantasia...
Showing posts with label Pop Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pop Culture. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tips on Foreshadowing Part 2: Character Relationships
| Photo Credit: tvtropes.org |
This is part two of my series on foreshadowing. See Part 1 here.
Let's talk about character relationships. As with all foreshadowing, the most important thing to remember is that all stories inherently set up certain promises to the reader. It's crucial that you deliver on those promises. How do you set up these promises, you ask? Well, chances are you've already done it. You just don't know it.
If your MC is a woman and early on in the story she meets a man who's smoking hot but a jerk, you've already set up one of these promises. Most readers are smart enough to know that this will probably be the main love interest. At some point, they're hoping to see their expectations satisfied.
If you say that your MC doesn't get along with a sibling, then your audience is expecting this to be resolved at some point. It doesn't matter whether the siblings end up hating each other for all time or come to terms. Either way, you have to resolve this because by making a point of mentioning it, you've set up a promise, which you now have to deliver on.
An example of this done WELL: all the teenage-drama type shows on TV. They tend to introduce the major love interest right away, show a spark, then spend two or three seasons keeping the main guy and gal apart. Frustrating? Yes. But it keeps people watching because the audience knows who is supposed to be together and they keep coming back, waiting for the writers to make good on the promise they set up in the first episode.
And what happens when one of the main characters leave the show? More often than not, the viewers leave too. Without any chance of satisfaction on the promises originally set, they lose interest in the series.
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| Photo Credit: goodreads.com |
So, set up your promises of relationships, whether romantic or platonic, by
1) Starting in the opposite place you want to end up in. If two people will end up together, they should hate one another at the beginning. If you want two people to come to terms, start with them being estranged, etc.
| "What do you mean I'm going to end up with him?" Photo Credit: allmoviephoto.com |
2) Make sure that wherever the relationship starts (hating each other, etc.) is disruptive to the MC's world. If it's not, there's no reason to "fix" it.
Example: Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. At first, they aren't particularly fond of one another, but they become good friends. Their dislike of one another is disruptive because they're thrown together and HAVE to work together, so it'd be best if they learn to get along. (Plus there's the bonus of Luke's sister becoming involved with Han. Can we all say brother-in-law?)
| Photocredit: watsonforever.tripod.com |
Example: Ron and Hermione. Rowling did an excellent job showing their relationship changing over the years. Bit by bit things got better, then worse, then awkward, and eventually they found their way to each other. (So cute!)
4) Make sure you end in the opposite place that you start. BE EXPLICIT ABOUT THIS!!! It will be much more powerful if you do.
Example: Anna and the King. One of my favorite films of all time! At one point, Anna is talking to the king about the fact that he has so many wives. It's a recurring theme throughout the story. He tells her that, as the king, he loves all his wives individually and doesn't understand her problem with plural marriage. At the end, after he's fallen in love with her, he tells her that he now understands the idea of being satisfied with just one woman. It's a direct reference to something discussed earlier in the film that has changed. It's both touching and powerful because we have an earlier frame of reference for it. This is the fulfillment of foreshadowing at it's best!
Foreshadow character relationships and stick to the promises you set up and you can't go wrong!
What do you think? Have you ever read a book where the author made a relationship promise and then didn't deliver?
Random Movie Quotes (RMQ)
Don't know what this is? Click here.
Yesterday's RMQ was "Do you want to be a cop or do you want to appear to be a cop." This was said by Oliver Queenan in the film The Departed, played by Martin Sheen. Great movie, albeit adult. This one was guessed by Alex Cavanaugh. Great job Alex!
Today's RMQ:
"And you think if you save poor Catherine, you could make them stop, don't you? You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs."
One point for film, one for actor, one for character. Good luck! :D
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Vampires and Vampires and Vampires, Oh My!
So we all know the market is completely saturated with vampire literature right now. Most people are sick of it, but many vampire series are still selling well, so obviously not everyone is.
My publisher, Jolly Fish Press (yea!) picked up a vampire book. I haven't read it so I couldn't tell you whether it's good or not, but if it got picked up by a traditional publisher, it must be, right? The CEO of JFP (everyone keeping up with the acronyms here?) said he didn't want vampire stuff, but when he read this, he couldn't help but sign it. It was just that good!
I recently met the author and asked her what kind of vampires were in her book. She said they weren't Twilight-ish. They were more monster-ish, but they had some humanity because they're the ones with the major conflicts.
It made me think of a conversation I had with my sister a couple of years ago. When I became serious about writing (or rather, when my family started to take me seriously as a writer--yes there's a HUGE difference in the time frames) my sister asked me about writing vampires. She's a major Twi-hard and suggested that I write something about vampires. I immediately (but with perfect tact, of course) shot down the idea. I explained that the market was saturated and that most publishers even had disclaimers on their websites saying, DO NOT SEND US VAMPIRE STUFF! I also told her that I would only write something about vampires if I felt like I had something to add that hadn't been done before. At the time, I didn't. She seemed a bit chagrined but didn't press the issue.
(Since then I've actually come up with something I think could work, though it's only a wisp of an idea, not a full plot line or character sketch, and I'm not currently pursuing it.)
Anyway, all this talk has made me curious: how do you prefer your vampires?
Most of my followers fall into one of two categories: writers who are putting the literature out there or book bloggers who are directly, aggressively reading the literature and reviewing it. So, do you like dreamy, sparkly vampires (circa Twilight, 2005), full-on monsters (in the vein of one of my personal faves, 30 Days of Night) or somewhere in between? If you could read or write your perfect vamp, what would they be like?
Like I said: just curious. :D
Kisses!
My publisher, Jolly Fish Press (yea!) picked up a vampire book. I haven't read it so I couldn't tell you whether it's good or not, but if it got picked up by a traditional publisher, it must be, right? The CEO of JFP (everyone keeping up with the acronyms here?) said he didn't want vampire stuff, but when he read this, he couldn't help but sign it. It was just that good!
 |
| How do you prefer your vamps? |
It made me think of a conversation I had with my sister a couple of years ago. When I became serious about writing (or rather, when my family started to take me seriously as a writer--yes there's a HUGE difference in the time frames) my sister asked me about writing vampires. She's a major Twi-hard and suggested that I write something about vampires. I immediately (but with perfect tact, of course) shot down the idea. I explained that the market was saturated and that most publishers even had disclaimers on their websites saying, DO NOT SEND US VAMPIRE STUFF! I also told her that I would only write something about vampires if I felt like I had something to add that hadn't been done before. At the time, I didn't. She seemed a bit chagrined but didn't press the issue.
 |
| Dreamy or Demon? |
Anyway, all this talk has made me curious: how do you prefer your vampires?
Most of my followers fall into one of two categories: writers who are putting the literature out there or book bloggers who are directly, aggressively reading the literature and reviewing it. So, do you like dreamy, sparkly vampires (circa Twilight, 2005), full-on monsters (in the vein of one of my personal faves, 30 Days of Night) or somewhere in between? If you could read or write your perfect vamp, what would they be like?
Like I said: just curious. :D
Kisses!
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