A to Z Challenge: G is for Grief

Welcome to the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

This year, I’m focusing on two themes:  Emotions and grammar,

depending on which letter we’re on each day.

I’ll be sharing mostly what I’ve learned about writing emotion into a novel, but I’ll also be throwing in a few key grammar lessons, pet peeves I’ve picked up while working as an editor.

Today’s an emotion day!

__________

G is for grief:  keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.

Grief is a powerful emotion, and, when done well, is palpable for the reader.  I used it extensively in my novel, The Mistaken.  It was the perfect vehicle for moving my plot forward: 

Tyler’s wife is killed.  In unbearable pain, he seeks revenge and uses that as a means to free his brother from the Russian mafia.  He makes poor choices, things go very wrong, and all hell breaks loose. 

The key to sharing the character’s grief is making the reader care about him first.  That requires time, building a relationship, creating depth and layers, making him happy, learning what and whom he cares about most.  Then when that’s all taken away—bam!—we actually feel his pain.

At this point, all he wants is to be left alone, but that won’t work.  You have to stir the pot, have another character confront him with his grief, pulling it out for all to see and feel.  But even then, you have to make his suffering worse, hit him while he’s down, not allow him the time or space to heal.  It’s a low blow, but tragedy is unpredictable and often comes in multiples, and it’s in these multiple ways we see, feel, and experience the near-destruction of our character.

At his point, give him a way to deal with his pain, but not necessarily in a good way.  People often make poor choices when they’re at their lowest, so this is the perfect opportunity to add conflict and tension. 

While he tries to deal with all the turmoil of his grief and poor choices, he is bound to meet new people, folks with whom he can share his pain, who can offer a new perspective, shake things up, set him on a better path, and show him he can live again.  His life is different now, changed in ways he never wanted, but will make him feel glad that he’s alive.   

A to Z Challenge: G is for Goal

Welcome to Day 7 of the A to Z Challenge

Many bloggers have chosen a theme for the A to Z.  My pledge since becoming a blogger is to post about writing, so for this event, I will being posting about what I've learned about writing a novel.

________

G is for Goal:  the result or achievement towards which effort is directed: aim; end.  (Dictionary.com)

Let’s face it, the entire purpose of a novel is for the protagonist to attain his goal, his objective.  In fact, The Quest is one of the most widely used plot patterns in fiction.  The goal is what the protagonist most desires and cares about, a driving force that motivates him, keeps him committed and moving forward. 

Every protagonist needs one, whether it’s a dream, a longing, an ambition, or an obligation.  His goal mobilizes him beyond the barriers that bind the rest of us.  It is the vehicle that brings about change, that results in the lead becoming a different person, most often a better person, which, in the end, is the whole point of the story.

In my novel, the main character is, at first, driven to free his brother from the influence of the Russian Mafia, which he is unable to do.  After his wife is killed, he is driven by the need for revenge, which in turn, allows him to attain his first goal and free his brother.  When this need pushes him to do what he otherwise would never think of doing, he changes, as does his goal.  Now he needs to make amends for the wrongs he has committed.   

When you start out writing, does your protagonist have a clear goal or is that something that evolves as the story unfolds?