HOOK YOUR READER! IWSG post

 http://www.alexjcavanaugh.com/p/the-insecure-writers-support-group.html

The news.

 It has none of the characteristics that make something worthwhile.

It's not fun, it causes anxiety, it gives you a warped sense of reality, 

and people who watch it are rarely going to do anything with the information they get.

Yet, watch it they do.  Why?

If we want our books to sell, 

we need to be able to answer 

that question.

The appeal of many books, ideas and actions boils down to six key factors –

1.)  A person-centered subject matter
2.)  The presence of patterns
3.)  The odd incongruity
4.)  A topic that pushes the buttons of hope or fear
5.)  Stimuli that engage our body or senses 
6.)  Thoughts that play to our psychological biases


 Rhyming idioms are catchy, attractive and appear truthful 

because they are easy to mentally process and their repetitive sound appeals to our love of patterns.

Idioms that at first glance appear contradictory stimulate our keen eye for incongruity.


Fiction is so engrossing because we are hard-wired to detect useful information 

and while part of our brain knows that what we are reading is make-believe,

 another part thinks the characters, and events, are real.

Some aspect of our poor susceptible minds really thinks Hannibal Lector is out there. 

Somewhere.


Have you ever left a movie feeling vaguely dissatisfied?  

You didn’t like the film but don’t know exactly why?

 Chances are, the movie failed in terms of story structure. 

 Storytelling is so ingrained in us that it sets up certain expectations for how a story should unfold.  

When those expectations are defied, it leaves us vaguely unsettled.


A story is a character in pursuit of a goal in the face of an obstacle or challenge.

How the character resolves (or fails to resolve) the challenge creates the drama and human interest that keeps us reading or listening.

HOW TO HOOK THE READER ... 

1.) GET INTO YOUR PROTAGONIST'S HEAD RIGHT OFF AND STAY THERE.


2.) NO HEAD HOPPING

Readers will only know how the other characters are feeling through what your protagonist

 (POV character) 

notices and perceives—their words, actions, facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, etc.


3.) LEARN FROM THE DOCTOR DELIVERING A BABY

Slap your MC right out of the gate.   

It doesn’t need to be the main problem of the story,

but put something on the first or second page that challenges him and makes the readers start worrying about him.

 The difficulty or dilemma can be internal, external, or interpersonal.


4.) GRAVITY TAKES NO BREAKS; IT ONLY GIVES THEM 

Introduce some opposition in the first few pages.  

Bring on a rival, an enemy, or a nasty villain fairly early to get things moving fast and make your readers start biting their nails.


5.) SURPRISE!

 Surprise gets our attention by defying our expectations. 

We’re wired to immediately start figuring out what’s actually going on, 

the better to gauge whether the smack we're about to receive will be on the lips or aside the head.


6.) SQUIRM!

 Science has proven that the brain uses emotion, rather than reason, to gauge what matters to us.

So it’s not surprising that when it comes to story, if we’re not feeling, we’re not reading.

 In a compelling story the reader slips into the protagonist’s skin and becomes her/him –

feeling what she feels, wanting what she wants, fearing what she fears.


7.) HEMINGWAY YOUR WORDS

Over 11,000,000 pieces of information dive-bomb our five senses every second. 

Don't add to the reader's input unless it is necessary. Bore the reader; lose the reader.


8.)  NEVER BLUR THE FOCUS

We access the universal only through the very specific.  The story is in the specifics.

"Dario had a hard day."

There are all sorts of hard days. Is Dario a door-to-door salesman or a Roman gladiator?

Use the" Eyes-Wide-Shut test."

If you shut your eyes, can you see it? If not, then neither can the reader.


9.) MAKE THEM LAUGH

Life is hard enough for your reader.  Give them a chuckle or two in each chapter even if your tale is a dark one.

It is always darker after a light has died than if it had never existed at all. 


10.) CARE ABOUT YOUR STORY

If you care, it will carry over into your words.

Charlaine Harris stopped caring about Sookie 

and just continued to write the novels to keep her contract.

It showed.

However she redeemed herself with her Midnight, Texas novels.

Let's hope her enthusiasm for those characters is not tarnished by the NBC series based on them.
 

For laughter and reflection:

GROW YOUNGER EACH DAY

“I’m still going.

 It keeps you thinking young. 

My body is old, 

but I think the same as I did 

when I was 20 years old.”

 - June Foray

"I believe it's important to stay young at heart, 

to have faith in what might seem impossible 

and to have goals beyond your current abilities or temporary means."
 - Haley Williams

"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."
―Ernest Hemingway

Patti Deutsch, legendary voice actress and regular actress

died this Thursday in her Los Angeles home at 73.

 Deutsch’s big break came in 1972 

when she was case as a regular on NBC’s politically tinged sketch series Laugh-In.

By the mid-’80s, Deutsch had begun a successful second career as a voice actor on shows including The Smurfs, 

while continuing to guest on live-action TV series such as She’s the Sheriff and Moonlighting. 

She lent her voice to episodes of such ’90s toon series as Darkwing Duck and The Critters, 

 the latter of which also featured Neil Patrick Harris and Bobcat Goldthwait.

Another voice of laughter has left us.  :-(

June Foray, the voice of “The Rocky and  Bullwinkle Show’s” 

Rocky the Flying Squirrel and his nemesis Natasha Fatale

of Boris and Natasha fame in the early 1960s 

and a key figure in the animation industry, died Thursday just 8 weeks short of her 100th birthday.

Foray was also the voice behind Looney Tunes’ Witch Hazel, 

Nell from “Dudley Do-Right,” Granny in the “Tweety and Sylvester” cartoons

 and Cindy Lou Who in Chuck Jones’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,”

 among hundreds of others.


 Foray continued to work late in life, reprising her role as Rocky 

in director Gary Trousdale’s short “Rocky and Bullwinkle,” released by DreamWorks Animation in 2014.

( Taken from David's fine tribute to her:

 https://silverfoxlair.blogspot.com )

June Foray's sense of feeling younger and always finding a reason to laugh

is an important key to living well:

Feeling younger inspires a sense of resilience that keeps people young. 

1.) USE IT OR LOSE IT

Challenge yourself to try new things, learn new ideas, and develop new skills.

 Realizing that most human abilities follow a “use it or lose it” pattern 

can motivate us to stay active in all realms of our lives.

2.) HARD TO SAIL WHEN AT ANCHOR

Bring your attention repeatedly to the present moment, through informal mindfulness practice.

It can help you to appreciate this moment, 

rather than becoming lost in regrets about the past or imagining future deterioration.

3.) LIFE GROWS AS WE DO

Develop a sense of meaning in life.

Focus on something larger than yourself, 

whether that’s connecting with people close to you or helping improve the lives of others.

Or commit yourself to a hobby you love, 

such as gardening, attending the theater, dancing, or reading.

When our focus is just on our own immediate pleasure or pain, 

we’re much more likely to have difficulty with the aging process.

4.) SCRAPPED KNEE PRINCIPLE

 Remember when you were younger and would take a tumble, only to forget about it in five minutes? 

When you’re an adult, a lot of things aren’t all that easy to brush off, 

rather than dwell on them, you still manage to dust yourself right back off and go at it again 

(though this time, smarter). 

After all, life’s too short to spend it dwelling on the scrapes and bruises. 

Sometimes the only way to get over a setback is to simply just try again.

5.) LAUGHTER FILLS YOUR SAILS

 Laugh real. Laugh honestly. 

It will feel really, really good, and no matter how unattractive you think your laugh is,

And laughter releases endorphins which act as natural morphine.  

How cool is that?

6.)  LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE AS LONG AS YOU CONTINUE TO EXPLORE

 There’s always something new to discover and claim as yours, 

whether it’s a new restaurant, 

a new coffee shop hidden away in your neighborhood, 

a new book, or maybe even a new passion and hobby you never even knew you had inside yourself. 

We spend so much of our days going through routines and the same paths and habits, 

and breaking free only to stumble on something you never even knew you’d love 

 is refreshing and can remind you about every little beautiful thing in this world.

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, 

that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Navigating the Deadly Seas of WRITING MISTAKES

Don't you wish there was a map to follow to find success with your writing?

Each of us must chart our own course to our novel's successful end, but there are some shoals we should avoid:


1.) TOO MANY CHARACTERS

When more than just a few characters are introduced in the first few pages of a book, 

it’s difficult to keep their names and roles straight.

Have a literal boatload of characters?  

Filter them in slowly in the first few chapters, 

linking them in the mind of the readers with vivid sketches of their personalities.


2.) STERILE CHARACTERS

 If your characters are flat, if there’s nothing to set them and their struggles apart, we won’t want to cheer for them, and might not care enough to keep reading.


3.)  EXPERIMENTAL STYLE

When a writer experiments with style or structure, the result can be refreshing or irritating. 

Your ability to pull off something out-of-the-ordinary depends on your skill as a writer, 

and your ability to connect with readers despite your unusual style.

Anyone who has read my blog for long knows that I loved Roger Zelazny's books.  

But towards the end of his career, he experimented with strange formats to his books.

In DOORWAYS IN THE SANDS, he ended the chapters with cliffhangers, 

but then started the next chapter some time later, working back to the resolution of the crisis.  

VERY, VERY irritating!  

I only stayed because I liked him.  I don't think many other of his fans did. 


4.) UNCLEAR CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS

Have you ever read a book where a character does something, and you say, 

“Why on earth did she do that?? A mother would never do that!”

 Ensure your characters’ actions are in line with their motivations, 

and if they don’t appear to be on the surface, your reader must understand why not.

 Don't lift your readers out of your novel with characters you force to be stupid to get them to make mistakes to propel your story forward.


5.) HAZY STRUCTURE

  If all the good stuff happens at the beginning, or if nothing exciting happens until the end, your reader will be frustrated with the rest of the book.


6.) WRITE FOR THE MARKET ONLY

If you start by chasing the market, you study the bestseller lists and try to identify a trend, jumping on it.

Even if the trend is still hot by the time your novel comes out, the story will be lackluster, for it didn't come out of your dreams.


7.)  NULLIFY THE DANGER OR REACH THE GOAL TOO EARLY

The point is to raise the stakes so that the readers are not only cheering your protagonist on, 

but afraid that they may fail to save whatever it is that they are trying to keep.

 Regardless of your genre, 

every novel must have a protagonist trying to accomplish or reach some kind of goal. 

The plot itself is then the character’s journey to try to reach said goal.

 In some novels, that goal may evolve along the way, 

but the important thing is that whatever the goal is, it is out of reach throughout the large majority of the novel. 

By making your characters fail, often repeatedly, to reach that goal, 

you keep your readers hooked because they’ll want to find out how your character will manage to succeed.

What do you think are some deadly mistakes to avoid in our writing?

THE UNKNOWN PERSISTS

“In a world of diminishing mystery,
 the unknown persists.”
- Jhumpa Lahiri

On July 24, 1911 American archeologist, Hiram Bingham

got his first look at  

Machu Picchu, 

an ancient Inca settlement in Peru that is now one of the world's top tourist destinations.

Tucked away in the rocky countryside northwest of Cuzco, 

Machu Picchu is believed to have been a summer retreat for

 Inca leaders, whose civilization was virtually wiped out by Spanish invaders in the 16th century. 

For hundreds of years afterwards, its existence was a secret known only to the peasants living in the region. 

That all changed in the summer of 1911, 

when Bingham arrived with a small team of explorers to search for the famous “lost” cities of the Incas.

I wonder if Juli (from last post), who lives in Peru, has seen this mysterious city?

No, Ghost of Mark Twain, I am not calling Juli a peasant!!

(Darn that Mark -- always trying to get me into trouble)

As Wynonna Earp, whom we both love, said last episode --

"Single mothers are superheroes."

By the way, 

Wynonna Earp 

has been picked up 

for a Third Season!

But back to 

Machu Picchu

The excited Bingham spread the word about his discovery in a best-selling book, 

sending hordes of eager tourists flocking to Peru to follow in his footsteps up the Inca trail. 

The site itself stretches an impressive five miles, with over 3,000 stone steps linking its many different levels. 

Today, more than 300,000 people tramp through Machu Picchu every year, 

braving crowds and landslides to see the sun set over the towering stone monuments of the  

“Sacred City” 

and marvel at the mysterious splendor of one of the world’s most famous man-made wonders.

Would anything Man has made today survive abandonment for 400 years? 

What do you think?

Why DO I Love Wynonna Earp So Much?

Here's Why:

Around the WORLD with WYNONNA EARP

TV reaction videos on YouTube 

have become increasingly popular.  

Why?

Mirror Neurons and Empathy.

When a macaque monkey reaches for food, certain neurons light up in its brain. 

Those same neurons light up when the monkey sees a human reach for food, too. 

Later named mirror neurons, some believe these cells are active in human brains as well,

Mirror neurons could explain why we smile when we see someone else smile.

What would Wynonna say about all my theorizing 

why I like to watch YouTube reactions 

to her episodes?

I drop in on my fellow Earpers all around the globe and 

smile at their enjoyment of the show which has often been a light in recent dark times.

ARGENTINA

How could I not stop to visit with Denisa, Clara, and Fernanda 

who dressed like Doc Holliday complete with moustaches and Western attire 

for their 1st reaction?


On their 2nd video, 

Fernanda donned a Spiderman mask whenever a scary scene appeared to hide her squeamish expression.

They exude so much fun and friendship, I feel lighter with each visit.  

You even learn a bit of Argentina's culture, foods, personalities -- with a bit of joyful cosplay thrown in!

CZECH REPUBLIC

Honey, nickname, of the YouTube channel, Leska's Keryon,

has my kind of luck ...

Her laptop died keeping her from making her reactions to Wynonna 

that sparkle with wit and charm.

She has just switched to a desktop computer that is hobbled with Windows XP ...

AND she still did a standout job on her reaction to the latest episode of Wynonna.

Pay her a visit and let her know what a great job she did, will you?

NORWAY

Natalie gets so caught up in the lives of the those in the series it is a joy to watch.  

She connects with Waverly especially ...

and who can blame her  ... 

especially when she is forced to sing to save her life?

And when I followed her on Twitter just to express my concern for her not posting for a time, 

she sent me this reply she had posted earlier on Twitter:

PERU

 How could I not enjoy visiting Juli, a lady who likes Wonder Woman and Supergirl?  

I do not see how she finds the time to do so many reactions while raising a child.

I guess she is a Wonder Woman herself!

I know her laughter and sense of humor are wonderful.

CANADA

 Dropping in on Sofia Rojas is inspirational.

All of you know of my grueling schedule as a rare blood courier, 

but Sofia puts me to shame infusing such enthusiasm and laughter into her reactions 

after working 72 hours in only a few days.

I couldn't help but laugh when Sofia groaned 

at the clueless woman not seeing the ghoul right behind her:

"This is how white people die!" 

No matter how exhausted I am from blood runs, her reactions make me feel better.

I wait each week for her delightful takes on the episodes.

On vacation now, her Wynonna's downloads take almost as long as mine.

UNITED KINGDOM

No matter how down I am, I feel transformed by the laughter of Leanne Heynes and her brother, Bradley.

Watching them try to high-five one another only to smack each other on the forehead or 

bicker about each one over-riding the other's enjoyment of the episode is such great fun.

Hearing them chuckle at Waverly telling a stranger trying to explain Kanye West to her:

"I'm British not elderly."

They laughed at how Americans think the British are so far behind-the-times. 

***

TONI LITTY

 Just where in the UK Toni resides is a mystery to me, but I love her sincere enthusiasm for Wynonna 

and desire for this show to succeed.

And since I am doing blood runs during the cast's live tweets during the show, I have missed them.

But Toni has started recording her reactions to them while the show is going on.

Now, I am connected.

Thank you, Toni!  My Stetson's off to you.

SWEDEN/now in VANCOUVER

Ylva V infuses such delight and innocence in her reactions that it is recharging to visit her.

Her twin Swedish/Canadian perspective spins my own perception of Wynonna and her clan.

To see her fangirl over Dominique (Waverly) saying she loved her unique name so much

 that she would name her daughter Ylva made me smile despite my weariness.

 Ylva would fit right in here in Louisiana ...
 except for this terrible heat!

EASTERN EUROPE now 
NEW ZEALAND

Eden Singer said in one of her reactions to the second season of Supergirl 

that as an Eastern European refugee,

she identified with Kara and with feeling Other.

She brings that unique perspective and sensitivity to her reactions on Wynonna Earp.

I see beyond myself whenever I visit her video home.  Thanks, Eden.

Representing everyone means a lot to Eden and so a show like Wynonna Earp means a lot to her.

Here is her latest reaction:

Marcie DeFeo

I believe I am visiting Canada when I pop by her front room,

 but I cannot seem to find concrete data to support that feeling.

But Marcie was the first Wynonna reaction video I stumbled upon, and it would be rude not to thank her.

Marcie started reacting to Wynonna on the 4th episode of the first season.

Imagine her shock when her co-workers said they loved her reactions.

She thought she was merely talking to strangers!

Marcie's manner is so natural and fun 

that you feel as if you are a welcome friend in her living room, sharing a great program.


All of these warm, loving ladies will never know me, but I am lucky and honored to have met them -- 

 if only on YouTube.


Though from different corners of the world, they are all great ambassadors for the lesbian community.

As I had my fictional hero, Samuel McCord say:

"Life is so hard, and love so seldom found, who am I to object when and where two lonely souls find it?"