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I’ve been thinking a lot about believable character motivations and emotions lately. I read a book recently that reinforced what I had been working on in my own writing.

It was a fun book- really cute idea and character voice. My issue was this: there was a really cute boy that the main character (MC) was drawn to. Problem = he was a jerk. Not just a ‘one time, maybe he was having a bad day’ kind of jerk but a serious jerk. -Including a humiliating bet-

But of course, within the space of a few pages he went from ‘Hot Jerk’  to ‘Hot Boyfriend’. Whaaat?

I didn’t buy it (or the step-sister’s turn-around) and the rest of the book I was in disbelief. I didn’t understand her motivation to trust him. I didn’t feel like she reacted like a real person.

In my own writing I had run into something similar. My MC was thrust into a situation completly different from everything she knew. Now I knew she was safe, and I knew the people who were there were nice so I had her responding slightly suspicious but accepting the explanations easily.

The editor that looked at it asked me a question that changed my approach. “Is this how a seventeen-year old girl would really react in this situtation?”

Woah. She didn’t know she was safe. That requires a different reaction entirely. Now it rings more true as a ‘real’ emotional response. The funny thing was, that as soon as I saw the question I realized if it had been someone else’s book I would of totaly responded with a ‘No way she would be doing that!’.

So, now for a question. How do we make sure that our character’s emotions and motivations are realistic? And if they aren’t what you would think of as the ‘normal’ response, how do we set it up so that is is believable to a reader?

I changed my ending.

I was never really fond of the original ending. But I thought it was necessary because it was the way that my MC (male) would have responded due to his background and childhood. So it sat. And I still didn’t like it much.

I was struck as I went through the revision with a realization.  It may have been how He would have thought it should end, but not my MC (female). The first ending had her respond the way she would have at the beginning of the story, before she had gone through everything and grown.

So, my new ending is how the new She would respond.

I like it better 🙂

I had put away my story. It had been months since I even looked at it. Not that I haven’t thought about it, it is always bouncing around in my skull. I just hadn’t a chance to dive into it.  Well, yesterday I opened it up again and wrote. And wrote. For more than four hours I was lost again in my world. It was fun!  I’m excited about polishing it and moving on to the next step – an agent.

Of course, waking up this morning to get the kids to school after falling asleep at almost 3:00 in the morning – not so fun.

October nears its close.  Which means November is around the corner. You may be thinking “So?”  But what November means is NaNoWriMo.  I have been excited for November for a while. Turning over the story beginnings from my writing notebook in my head. It’s like taking samples at the candy counter, you want to make sure it is good before you invest in a whole package.

However, yesterday I was struck by an idea. My WIP – in order to fix some plot issues – needs to go from the ‘two or more books’ to a stand-alone novel.

Can I do that?

Can I condense the plethora of ideas into one book? I’m pretty sure I can, and it will be a richer – more engaging story. And it will have that satisfying moment at the end of a complete finish.

So, now my dilemma. Do I do NaNo, or do I dive into my WIP and work on re-plotting the story there? Hmmmm.