How to Write a Brilliant Romance: The Easy, Step-By-Step Method of Crafting a Powerful Romance (Go! Write Something Brilliant) (12 page)

What monumental event in your past shaped you and determined your goals and motivations for today? (Noble Cause/Purpose/Greatest Fear/Wound)

What
are
you
good
at?
(Competence)

What
is
the
one
thing
you
would
never
do?
What
would
make
you
do
it?
(In-Security)

What
is
the
Lie
that
you
believe?
What
Truth
will
set
you
free?
(Belonging)

Answer: It helps you reveal the layers of your character through Essential
Scenes.

Once
you’ve
built
your
character,
it’s
time
to
insert
those
layer-revealing
moments
into
your
story.
If you
have
already
plotted
the
story,
you
may
have
already
plotted
these
scenes.
However,
use
these layers
and
essential
scenes
as
a
“checklist”
to
make
sure
you
have
sufficiently
brought
your
character to
life
on
the
page.

A
little
author
math:
People
often
ask
me
about
chapter
and
scene
lengths.
I
have
a
system
that works
for
me.
I
usually
write
a
twenty
chapter
book.
If
the
novel
is
100,000
words
in
length
(often the
size
of
a
historical
romance),
then
each
chapter
is
5,000
words.
I
usually
will
divide
the
chapter
in three
scenes,
so
each
scene
is
approximately
1500-1800
words
(a
solid
length
for
a
scene).
Likewise, if
the
book
is
80,000-90,000
words,
(often
the
size
of
a
trade
romance
or
suspense),
then
I
divide
the book
into
4,000
word
chapters,
with
three
scenes
of
1200
word
lengths.
(Also
a
good
size
for
a suspense
or
romance
scene).
This
also
gives
me
room
to
increase
word
count
if
I
need
to,
based
on the
needs
of
the
scene.

If
the
book
is
a
category
size
romance,
between
45,000-60,000
words,
then
I
write
approximately 3,000
word
chapters
and
have
only
two
scenes
between
1000-1500
words.

I
do
this
so
that
the
percentages
of
the
time
spent
in
Acts
1
through
3
stay
about
the
same.
Act
1
is generally
Chapters
1-3,
Act
3
is
generally
chapters
17-20,
which
means
that
Act
2
is
the
remainder, usually
chapters
4-16.
This
keeps
the
time
spent
in
each
act
in
the
correct
rhythm.

In
order
to
accurately
reveal
character,
it’s
helpful
to
use
what
I
call,
Essential
Scenes.

Layer
One:
His
Attire
:
(which
reveals
his
Identity)
mannerisms,
clothing,
public
goals (Hint:
Commonly
this
is
Chapters
1-2)

In Meet the Hero or Heroine, you have a scene that
shows: Their
Storyworld

Their
Identity
(that
essential
element
that
makes
them
who
they
are) Their
Goals
(what
they
want)

The
Glimpse
of
the
Greatest
Dream
–
We
want
to
see
what
he’s
after,
what
matters
to him.
You
do
this
by
having
him
see
what
he
wants—just
a
glimpse
of
it.

Their
Competence
(if
you
need
to
save
word
count)

Layer Two: His Behavior
(which reveals Character/Values/Competence): Remember, this layer reveals how he treats people, his habits (which also reveal values), his reactions to stress (which reveal past hurts and his essential character).

I am good, so very good (the scene that reveals their values and their habits)

Just
give
me
my
blankie
(his
reactions
to
stress)

Layer Three: His Choices
(which reveal Purpose/Noble Cause): This layer reveals his external struggles regarding plot, his greatest dreams, and why he thinks he’ll never find them, and finally his obstacles to love.

There
are
a
few
scenes
that
accomplish
this
layer:

If
I
could
only
–
what
stands
in
his
way
to
storming
the
castle
and
rescuing
the
princess. (Money, skills, opportunity).

All I want is to be Happy – the story about his fondest memory and why, and what his greatest dream is.

This may lead to The One that Got away story – the revelation of his past
romances

Layer
Four:
His
In-
security:
His
internal
struggles,
greatest
dreams
and
fears,
how
he
feels
about love,
his
spiritual
vacancies.
(This
might
occur
anywhere
from
chapters
12-18.)

Out of Character scene – have the hero do something that goes contrary to his goals . . .

.
.
.
which
then
leads
to
the
What if I lose everything scene
: Have a hint of his greatest fears happen, a sort of foreshadowing
of
the Black
Moment,
and
have him
consider
giving
up.

The
Sacrificial
Act
makes
him
heroic,
but
also
changes
him
into
the
person
he
needs
to
be.

Layer Five: His Spiritual Lie and the discovery of the Truth.

(Often
this
occurs
near
the
climatic
ending,
anywhere
from
chapters
16-20.)

Breakup Scene (when the wound is reopened)…which can be combined with the…

Black Moment Event scene (when the Greatest Fear and Lie comes true) which leads to the…

Epiphany Scene (When the Truth sets the hero/heroine free and this causes the hero/heroine to change.)

Note:
Although
I
am
writing
this
from
the
hero’s
perspective,
these
scenes
apply
to
your
heroine also.

Once you know your character’s Backstory, how do you insert
it?

Shouldn’t
the
reader
know
more
than
the
characters?

Yes.
Which
is
the
Second
Key
to
Deeper
Characterization:
Backstory
Breadcrumbs

As
you
build
your
character
and
reveal
his
layers,
you
also
need
to
keep
in
mind
the
balance
between layering
and
dropping
backstory
elements
that
are
essential
to
building
the
motivation
of
the character.
Your
reader
needs
to
know
why
your
character
is
doing
something.
Not
an
entire
diary entry,
but
just
one sentence of
information—and
even
that
should
only be the
barest
crumb
of information.

The
key
to
Backstory
is
dropping
just
enough
crumbs
to
stir
your
reader’s
hunger
for
more.
You don’t
want
to
give
them
too
much
at
the
beginning,
or
they’ll
get
filled
up,
satisfied,
and
they
won’t have
an
appetite
to
finish
the
journey.

So,
how
much
Backstory
should
you
put
into
a
scene?
Just
enough
to
give
the
reader
the
information
he
or she needs to understand and accept the current action and decisions.

They
just
need
to
embrace
the
character’s
motivations
for
continuing
on
in
the
journey.

For
example,
let’s
say
I
have
a
character
who
has
just
inherited
a
ranch.
I
might
open
the
scene where
she
is
driving
up
to
the
abandoned
ranch,
looking
at
the
life
her
uncle
left
her.
Now,
I
might be
tempted
to
go
into
a
lengthy
Backstory
about
how,
when
she
was
a
child,
she
loved
visiting
the ranch,
how
she
chased
the
prairie
dogs
and
rode
horses
through
the
tall
grasses,
and
how
it
gave
her an
escape
from
an
alcoholic
mother.
I
might
go
on
to
recall
a
conversation
she
had
with
her
uncle, how
she
was
like
a
daughter
to
him,
and
how
he
had
one
no-account
son.
I
could
even
say
that
she’d spent
the
last
five
years
as
a
lawyer
in
Minneapolis,
and
was
burned
out
after
winning
a
child
abuse case,
and
wanted
a
fresh
start
because
the
case
reminded
her
too
much
of
her
own
life.
I
could
say all
that.
But
it’s
way
too
much
information
for
the
beginning
of
a
book,
and
really,
it
gives
away
the punch
line.
We
want
our
readers
to
discover
all
this
along
the
way.

Instead,
I’ll
pare
it
down
to
the
essentials:

“She
couldn’t
believe
that
Uncle
Henry
had
left
her
the
ranch
instead
of
Billy
Bob.
Nor
could
she believe
she’d
abandoned
her
law
practice,
especially
now,
after
the
victories
of
her
last
case.
But maybe
her
uncle
knew
her
better
than
she
knew
herself,
had
heard
the
silent
pleadings
of
her
heart. Even
now,
the
wide
expanse
of
the
blue
sky
filled
her
soul
like
a
spring
breeze
after
a
grueling winter,
drawing
her
back
to
the
land.”

Okay,
even
that
might
be
too
much,
but
doesn’t
it
raise
a
lot
more
questions
for
the
reader?
What silent
pleadings?
What
case,
and
why
would
she
leave?
Who
is
Billy
Bob?
And
what
happened
as
a child
to
keep
her
tethered
to
the
land?
All
these
questions
are
breadcrumbs
to
draw
the
reader further
into
the
story.

In
my
book
Flee
the
Night
,
the
book
opens
with
my
heroine,
Lacey
on
a
train,
sitting
next
to
her daughter.

She
sees
a
man
get
on—one
Lacey
recognizes
as
an
assassin.
I
drop
only
breadcrumbs
by
pulling back
on
the
information
I
give.The
past couldn’t have picked a
worse
time to find
her.Trapped
in
seat
15A
on
an
Amtrak
Texas
Eagle
chugging
through
the
Ozarks
at 4:00
a.m.
on
a
Sunday
morning,
Lacey
.
.
.
Galloway
.
.
.
Montgomery—what
was her current last name?—tightened her leg lock around the computer bag at her
feet.

She dug her fingers through the cotton knit of her daughter’s sweater as she
watched the newest passenger to their compartment find his seat. Lanky, with
olive
skin and dark eyes framed in wire-rimmed
glasses, it had
to be Syrian
assassin Ishmael Shavik, who sat down, fidgeted with his leather jacket, then
impaled her with a dark
glance.

In
this
opening
scene,
my
heroine
knows
the
man
is
after
her,
but
doesn’t
tell
us
why.
We
also
know she’s
protecting
a
briefcase,
but
we
don’t
know
why.
And,
we
know
that
her
past
is
bad,
but
again,
we don’t
know
why.
All
these
problems
are
hinted
at,
but
not
solved.
My
goal
is
to
lure
the
reader
in
with just
enough
breadcrumbs
to
make
them
hungry.

Remember:
Backstory
Breadcrumbs
are
soft,
tasty,
small
morsels
to
lure
your
reader
into
the
story.

What
is
the
essential
information
the
reader
needs
to
know
to
give
sufficient
motivation
for the
character?
What
story
questions
can
you
drop
into
the
scene
that
will
keep
the
reader
interested?

I’m
a
camping
girl.
I
love
to
go
out
to
the
shore
and
build
a
blazing
fire
and
cozy
up
to
it.
Reading good
dialogue
is
like
that
campfire.
It’s
mesmerizing,
it’s
hot,
it’s
attractive,
and
it
provides
light
in the
darkness.
More
than
that,
great
dialogue
is
what
adds
the
glow
of
romance
to
the
story.