Comments on: Don’t Just Stand There – Do Something!

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:44:52 +0000

Suzanne, he is. An absolute diamond.

By: Suzanne Jones

Suzanne Jones — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:55:53 +0000

It's great when you have someone to talk over these problems with. Dr Jax is a gem.

xx

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:24:29 +0000

Kaily – I know what you mean. I quite like torturing my characters though. The blacker the moment, the more I enjoy it. I am evil. Lol!
Exactly Maisey – make them hurt! Mwwwaahahaha!

By: Maisey

Maisey — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:20:38 +0000

Kaily, you need to find your inner sadist. Make them bleed for love.

By: Kaily Hart

Kaily Hart — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:34:48 +0000

Quicksand – yeah I can relate to that. It usually happens to be me about three quarters into the book. I know the beginning, I know the issues, the conflict, the turmoil and I can set it up. I know the ending and how they’ll come to terms with everything and have their HEA. I think for me it might be the reluctance to put them through that ‘black moment’. I mean, I know these people, I’m invested in them, they’re like family. How could I do that to them? I have to learn to love to torture them more, make them work harder for it..

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:09:33 +0000

Maya – yeah, that makes sense. Yes, I know what they have to do, the issues they have to face and resolve, it’s more a case of how they do that. He can’t just tell her ‘I promise not to control you’. He has to prove that he won’t. He has to do something that lets her see she can trust him not to do that. And it’s the ‘how’ or ‘what’ he does that sometimes I have problems with.

Maisey – you said that about your partial remember? And your editor LOVED it. It’ll be great. Let me know when you’ve posted it.

By: Maisey

Maisey — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:35:55 +0000

Ack. Stalling action. Gotta move the relationship forward…you’ll have to tell me how I’ve done with The Sheikh…I won’t even pretend to have a great handle on this one…

By: Maya

Maya — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:18:12 +0000

Yep, slow coach here, but I got it. You meant interaction between the characters moving the story forward, not the actual physical movement. *forehead slapping*.

In stories as short as MH, in a way it’s easier (by that I mean not easy at all!) that you *have* to have the beginnings of resolution by say, a third of the way through. For me, it’s basically, asking myself – shouldn’t they have sorted A & maybe half of B by now with C waiting in the wings to explode in their faces? If the answer’s no, I go back and fix the problem (not as easy as it sounds, trust me). I know it’s different for everyone, but that’s my way I guess. Sorry for the ramble. 🙂

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:41:10 +0000

Sally – tea huh? Mine were great coffee drinkers but I’ve been very good lately and they haven’t had one yet!

Joanne – no I don’t watch that show but I did check out the site. Hotness!! Thanks for the inspiration. 😉

Maisey – yeah, I do that with dialogue sometimes. Just get down the essentials and then fill in. The problem though wasn’t them doing stuff while they were talking – they were – it was the fact that the conversation wasn’t doing anything. Someone had to make a decision to prompt the action for the next scene and I had a blank as to what decision they had to make. I was in danger of falling into the episodic trap again.

Maya – Lol! That’s funny re your characters! Like I said with Maisey, it wasn’t so much them doing stuff while they were talking as making decisions and acting on them in a way that drives the story forward. Argh, so hard to explain but do you know what I mean?
Pliods huh? Hope they’re not catching. 😉

By: Maya

Maya — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:44:46 +0000

Ha, I have the problem of my characters not talking enough! I think it’s because I have them always doing something, so I guess for me it would be, “Stop Faffing About, Stand Still For A Minute And Talk!”
One way to combat your problem might be to have them physically in a place where “the end is in sight”. If they’re having a meal at a restaurant, then the meal has finish sometime. If they’re in the middle of a sidewalk, then they have to, well, walk. If they’re in the bedroom, then, ahem, talking is not much use, eh?

PS – word verification – Pliods. Sounds painful, lol!