Just a quick note....

So a few weeks back I mentioned I had just finished my new draft of my WIP (for those of you that had been following, I finished my first draft over New Year and decided to scrap the whole thing. That was fun... not! Anyway, I finished about two weeks ago and have now just finished my first edit. I've sent it out to three people who I trust to give me their honest opinion on anything and everything from the style, plot, characters and general feel of the book. To say I'm nervous is a bit of an understatement!

Now I sit, my fingers fidgeting in anticipation for them all to get through the chapters and give me their feedback.

What is the process you take when you finish a first draft? What is your revising and reviewing process?

To love a character

What is it that you admire most about your favourite character? Is it that he is made of muscle and can fly? Is it that she has a huge heart yet is much stronger (emotionally) than all the men around her? Is it that every guy falls at her feet or that inside he's a really big dork?

Maybe you love this character because he, or she, succeeds every time.... or maybe it's because he/she simply tried.

In most novels, you expect the character to succeed. It's pretty much part of the standard format. In fact, I can barely think of any characters that don't succeed (if you can think of any, I'd love to hear them!) But I don't think it's the fact the character succeeds in whatever mission he is she is trying to accomplish that makes us love them. I think it's the journey. I think it's the trying to succeed.

Take Harry Potter to start with. I love Harry Potter, we all know this by now. I read the first book when I was nine years old but I still remember how much I loved it from the very beginning of the book. That was before Harry had fought with Quirrell and Voldemort, and won. At the end of the book (I'm sorry if this is a spoiler, but really, the book has been out for fifteen years, and the book for ten years.... you've had plenty of time to catch up!) Harry succeeds in his mission. He keeps the Philosophers stone safe and Voldemort doesn't manage to kill him. Again.

But we already loved Harry. We cared whether he lived or died, we admired him for his journey in life. (And if you were like me, you were jealous he got to go to magic school.) We loved him for TRYING to figure out who was trying to steal the stone, for risking his life to protect the stone he really knew nothing about. We all knew he would most probably get the stone and live to see another day, so it wasn't the success that we were likely to admire him for. It is the journey. The trying.

In my favourite book of the year, The Tea Rose (Not a YA book, I should add, but a great book nonetheless), the main character doesn't always succeed. Spoiler alert. In fact, it leaves you a little confused. You're sitting there saying "What on earth is going on? She's the main character, she's not supposed to have this much bad stuff happen to her with no sign of good luck on the horizon." But it works. Ultimately, she does succeed (to which you'll release the breath you didn't realise you had been holding for the last 800 pages). Her success though, it's not the reason you would admire her. It's one of them, sure, because she worked very hard for that success, but it's the trying to succeed and the journey she's taken to succeed that makes you love her.

She's one of the strongest female protagonists I've come across, and she's one of my favourite female characters because of her journey. Because of what she overcomes and because she's not afraid to keep trying.

It's an interesting thought to keep in mind when you're writing. It's not the character's successes that makes us really love them, it's their journey.

What are your thoughts?

The formula

In 2011, one of Pixar's story artists, Emma Coats, tweeted a series of 22 rules of storytelling. It's kind of genius I feel. See, I should start by saying I'm a HUGE fan of Pixar. For years when anyone asked me my dream job I would say "to work at Pixar." I knew it was just a dream but it was a good dream to have.

Anyway, one of the rules she tweeted was as follows....

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

The first time I looked at it, I though 'nah, it's way more complex than that.' Then I looked a little bit harder. Actually no, it's not. It's not more complex than that at all because that really is a typical formula of a story. Whether it's a movie, a novel, a short story, a cartoon or a miniseries that is the typical story. Hey even TV shows follow this formula.

Take Grey's Anatomy for example because for some reason that's popped into my head. Every episode has lots of blood and medicine and general hospital craziness but each episode follows the formula.

Once upon a time there was Meredith Grey. Every day, She goes to work at the hospital with her lover and friends. One day a ferry boat had a big crash. Because of that, the doctors had to race to the scene and try and save all the people. Because of that, Meredith fell into the water and almost drowned. Until finally she's rescued and taken to hospital and survives and everything goes back to normal.

Sure there are repercussions of her drowning. She stays in hospital for a while. It brings Derek and Meredith closer together and then puts a wedge between them, but ultimately, the next episode will start all over. Another day at Seattle Grace with more drama and tragedy.

I had never really thought about how the simple the formula can look on paper. It can be really incredibly difficult to fill in the gaps. It can take weeks, months... even years to come up with really good material to fill the gaps. But the basic formula seems to stay the same.

Some authors have other formulas they follow, which often makes for a very different style of story. I'm curious to know what other formulas people use? Perhaps they miss a step or two out...

One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

Or repeat some steps

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

What's your formula?