HOW TO OVERCOME A LAZY DAY

BY LISA AGOSTI

1. have a lazy day. you deserve it.
2. feel guilty and go back to writing

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1. have a lazy day. you still deserve it.
2. make a list of all the things that you have been putting off for a while with the excuse of writing. For example here is my TO DO list:

• call mom
• iron party dress from music festival three months ago
• clean bedroom tiles from last year's coffee spills
• learn knitting before next Christmas so everyone will get cheap cute presents
• read book on new magic diet that has been on your bedside table for the past 8 months ready to turn you into amazingly beautiful top model in time for next summer. well it's fall now so why should I bother. delete from list. eat a no calories gluten free lactose free rice crispy bar. sneak into the peanut butter jar
• feel guilty and go back to writing being grateful for the excuse not to do anything on the bloody list

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1. have a lazy day. you still sure deserve it.
2. feel guilty about people having a 9am-5pm job in a windowless office while you can have a lazy (well deserved) day in the sun
3. write post for your blog and guest post for other blogs and imagine yourself copy writing stupid ads for useless websites for 2$ every 2000000 words
4. go back to writing your novel feeling grateful and excited that you can write what you want when you want until money runs out (what money? add to TO DO list: call dad)

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1. have a lazy day. by now you don't even feel guilty anymore.
2. check pinterest pretending to be looking for inspiration.
3. check facebook pretending to be looking for inspiration.
4. check twitter pretending to be looking for inspiration.
5. check peanut butter jar pretending... nah... who am I kidding?
6. read a book you love
7. feel inspired and revived
8. go back to writing

have a good novel! 

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I did. And here's the result: themeanwriter

Enjoy your weekend!

Lisa

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BE MEAN TO YOUR LEAD

notes on writing based on J.S. Bell 'Write Great Fiction - Plot and Structure' - by Lisa Agosti

The fundamental rhythm of the novel is ARM, as in Action, Reaction, More Action.

To keep your readers interested through the middle section of your novel always check and make sure to:

•  stretch the tension by slowing down the pace of the telling when you get to critical points of the story. The tension can be:
• physical: the Lead Character is in danger of being killed
• emotional: the Lead doubts are causing a psychological turmoil
• raise the stakes by asking yourself periodically: who cares? Why should the readers care about flipping the page to find out more? The stakes can be:
• plot stakes: this usually means a physical threat
• character stakes: this usually refer to an emotional or moral trouble
• social stakes: a country declaring war is a good example of how society can add to the Lead problems (ask Scarlett O'Hara)

Do you want your readers to be hooked all the way through your novel?

Be mean to your Lead Character!
Train yourself  to think of deeper tribulation for your Lead. Get really mean.
Create a list of things that can go wrong for your poor character. 
Then sort the list from the least to the worse degree of trouble.

For example:
A young girl reads sits staring out of the window, longing for the return of her beloved Mr Lead, her lost soul mate lost in trouble. 

What is the worst possible thing that can happen to Mr Lead?

• Mr Lead is trying to get back to his beloved, who he loves very much, but his evil twin who is also in love with her gets overly jealous and kills his very brother with a gun found in their father house. Mr Lead had never agreed with his family fondness for weapons, and for a good reason.
• Mr Lead is trying to get back to his beloved, who he loves very much, but he get stuck on a smugglers boat that gets attacked by the pirates. Only survivor of the bunch, he tries to survive the waves for 54 days before reaching a famous shore where the overly welcoming locals turn him into a soft drunken loser.
• Mr Lead is trying to get back to his beloved, who he loves very much, but he suffers from amnesia after being hit by a deadly virus that has killed half the European population and one third of the rest of the world. The young girl of his dreams goes across the Ocean to find him and be reunited with him once she finds out about his impossibility to remember her, but gets killed by the virus before getting there. Eventually he becomes a renown doctor who finds a cure for the virus but then dies of an heart attack when he's alone in his studio.
• Mr Lead is not in love with his beloved because he's actually gay and commitmentphobic and was traumatized in his sick lonely childhood as an orphan and he dies alone and she kills herself, and so on and so on.

Can you be more mean? Bring it on! 

After all... tomorrow is another day.

ACT II: THE MIDDLE

Notes on writing - based on J.S.Bell 'Write Great Fiction: Plot and Structure' - by Lisa Agosti

After the first big opening of your novel, your readers are hooked on the story and wanting for more (hopefully). 

The second act of your book requires scenes that stretch the tension, raise the stakes, keep readers worried, and build toward Act III in a way that seems inevitable.

The first tool at hand to get to that is DEATH.

The most compelling fiction has death hovering over the Lead Character throughout the whole story. Death can be meant as:

• physical death: the obvious one
• psychological death: the Lead needs to find a reason to live or reach the desired object. If he can't succeed he's willing to die for it
• professional death: the Lead risks to lose his identity related to his career and success

The second tool to write a compelling second act is to create a good OPPOSITION.

For beginners it is easier to create a villain that is human. If the Lead is fighting a corporation, pick a group leader to help readers identify with the characters. Don't forget: the villain has to be stronger than the Lead to make the fight more intriguing.

The third tool we can use is the ADHESIVE.

An adhesive is any strong relationship or circumstance that holds people together. Here are some tips to make the adhesive strong:

• life and death: Lead fights to stay alive, Opposition wants Lead dead
• professional duty: for example a cops gets assigned a case
• moral duty: for example a mother looks for her missing child
• obsession: the Lead is obsessed with finding the Holy Graal
• physical constraint: as in 'The Shining' by Stephen King. We all know the story, but if you need a reminder:

Have a good novel!