A to Z Challenge: O is for Overwhelmed - Plus a Cover Reveal!

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!   

__________

O is for Overwhelmed:  to be excessively or completely overcome or overpowered in mind, feeling, body, or spirit.

This is a widely used emotion in fiction.  After all, if a character is overwhelmed by his circumstances, he’s bound to experience tension and conflict, the key ingredients in every work of fiction.  But people react to this emotion in various ways. 

Some show no outward signs and keep their resulting emotions hidden, and that’s the key, really.  Being overwhelmed is not so much the emotion itself, but rather that which incites what overtakes us, like fear and anxiety or love and tranquility.

While there are many actions to show how a character physically experiences being overwhelmed, many feel cliché and overused like shaking all over or the character's arms curling his body.  I think, since the impact of this emotion is so internal and visceral, a more effective way to show it is to really get into the character’s head as they pace around, mumbling and contemplating the repercussions or circumstances that have overwhelmed them.

In my own novel, The Mistaken, the main character deliberates the serious ramifications of his violent actions.  (Edited for length.)

I paced the floor around me, unable—perhaps unwilling—to process the reality of what I had just done...the severity of the mistake I had made, and the dire consequences that now faced me, my brother, and the wounded woman cowering in fear and humiliation in the corner. The reality was that through the hazy cloud of alcohol and pills, I believed delivering a degrading punishment would somehow empower me, fulfill my need for revenge, and expunge the hate, grief, and rage that filled me. I thought my mind might be rewarded with a sense of balance, my soul a thread of justice, and my heart a measure of peace.

But I despised myself for the act...I could not have sunk any lower had I taken a human life with my bare hands...I was an abomination, a monster...

Whoever said vengeance is sweet was wrong. It’s the thought of vengeance—filtered through memories that haunt and torment—that is sweet. Not the act itself. The act is vile and bitter, and I felt physically ill as it filled me, as I realized...the pain, fear, and humiliation I had caused.

So while there is a vast array of ways to tangibly express being overwhelmed—scrubbing a hand down the face, staring and pacing, collapsing to the floor and squeezing the eyes tight, or pressing shaky fingers to the mouth—and these should be used to show a character’s physical response, consider the impact to his psyche, how he internalizes his emotion, because that is essentially where he’s experiencing the brunt of his overwhelming circumstances.

How do you react when you are overwhelmed?

__________

COVER REVEAL!

"First Born"

by Tricia Zoeller

Releases May 10, 2013

Cover art by

Claudia at Phatpuppy &

Ashley at Bookish Brunette Designs

Mini Blurb:

"With the police and a killer hot on her trail, can shapeshifter Lily Moore solve the mystery of being First Born or will family secrets prove deadly?" 

Find Tricia Zoeller here:

Webpage    Facebook   Twitter   Goodreads

Click here to add First Born on your Goodreads TBR

A to Z Challenge: O is for Outline

Welcome to Day 15 of the A to Z Challenge

O is for Outline:  a general sketch, account, or report, indicating only the main features, as of a book, subject, or project. (Dictionary.com)

There are two camps, if you will, two trains of thought in the writing world.  One—of which I am not a member—is the pantsters.  These are the folks who write organically, by the very seat of their pants.  They might have a general idea of the plot and characters and where they want them to go, but then again, maybe not.  They don’t plan.  They just write.  There’s no map, only a seed of an idea that they allow to germinate, sprout, grow, and flower.  When I was stuck on where to start one of my WIPs, I couldn’t even figure out where to begin an outline.  So a friend suggested I just write what I knew at that point, to get it down on paper, so to speak, in hopes it would generate a flow.  I did just that, and it really helped.  Better yet, I found it liberating. 

Still, I am staunchly of the other camp.  I am a plotter, a narrative outliner.  I first jot down notes in my iPhone as they come to me, but eventually everything is written longhand in a spiral notebook.  My notes are pretty complete, only missing descriptions and dialogue.  From there, it’s easy for me to just read along in my notes and expand while I type away on my computer.

Some outliners write a mini synopsis, cover blurb, or summary statement to get started.  Some use index cards, others the headlight system, in which they have an idea but can see only as far their “headlights.”  Then they “drive” to that point and see a little farther.  Still others generate ideas for scenes and chapters by asking themselves questions:  What’s at stake?  How will the protagonist react?  What will happen when he does?   Do I need more characters?    

There are as many ways to plot and write a novel as there are writers who write them.  While I prefer to outline, so I know exactly where I’m going, I still write in the moment, meaning I write whatever comes into my head at that moment.  So while I am a plotter, I use many of the freebird pantster techniques, as well.                      

What type of writer are you?  Have you ever tried doing it the other way?