Julianna Keyes's Blog - Posts Tagged "release-week"
RELEASE WEEK POST 3!
THE FOURTH DIMENSION
We all know we’re supposed to write three-dimensional characters, and if you read my books, you know I like to write character arcs and mess with tropes and general expectations. That’s why Finn starts this story as little more than a cardboard cut-out in the shape of a prince (which is, in fact, the number one item stolen from the local airport by his fans).
When he’s first described with his lapels and epaulets and brass buttons, that’s my childhood memory kicking in, transcribing its earliest memories of what a prince was. A sketch, a concept, but not a real, flesh and blood man. And Brinley, despite having known Finn since childhood, knows him as little more than this ideal as well. I’ve gotten comments that it took a bit of time to get to know Finn, and that’s very much intentional. Not only did I want someone more reserved to balance out Brinley’s impulsiveness, I wanted to play with the concept of a “cardboard” character and slowly use the fourth dimension to show his third dimension.
See how clever I am? I know about the fourth dimension! (The fourth dimension is time, if you’re wondering.) I read about this in a gardening article once—you plan your garden for all its 3D glory, but need to factor in time, the way the plants will grow, change, die. In this story wanted to use time to transform that cardboard into not just a prince, but a man.
When we first meet Finn he’s in a formal suit, greeting Brinley politely but cautiously. On their wedding night he eats a burger while wearing his royal wedding pants and a plain T-shirt, straddling the line between traditional prince and regular person eating a burger. He wears funny socks and boxers, hidden beneath his royal finery. He explores the castle’s hidden tunnels with Brinley, and the farther they descend, the more they leave behind the royal expectations, the more real they become with each other. He slowly reveals tiny parts of himself, becoming more accessible to Brinley, and accordingly, the reader.
With Brinley leaping off the first page without a care as to what awaits her, I wanted to counter that with Finn’s slower, more methodical approach, and transform him from a cardboard idea of Prince Charming to a real prince we can believe and invest in. I think I accomplished that, but I’ll leave the final judgment up to you fine (brilliant, beautiful, hilarious, generous, incorruptible) readers.
Do you have a favourite type of hero? Alpha, beta, billionaire, dom, athlete, computer whiz? I used to lean toward the strong, silent (sometimes jerk) type, but the more I write the more variety I want, so my “favourite” is much more flexible.
We all know we’re supposed to write three-dimensional characters, and if you read my books, you know I like to write character arcs and mess with tropes and general expectations. That’s why Finn starts this story as little more than a cardboard cut-out in the shape of a prince (which is, in fact, the number one item stolen from the local airport by his fans).
When he’s first described with his lapels and epaulets and brass buttons, that’s my childhood memory kicking in, transcribing its earliest memories of what a prince was. A sketch, a concept, but not a real, flesh and blood man. And Brinley, despite having known Finn since childhood, knows him as little more than this ideal as well. I’ve gotten comments that it took a bit of time to get to know Finn, and that’s very much intentional. Not only did I want someone more reserved to balance out Brinley’s impulsiveness, I wanted to play with the concept of a “cardboard” character and slowly use the fourth dimension to show his third dimension.
See how clever I am? I know about the fourth dimension! (The fourth dimension is time, if you’re wondering.) I read about this in a gardening article once—you plan your garden for all its 3D glory, but need to factor in time, the way the plants will grow, change, die. In this story wanted to use time to transform that cardboard into not just a prince, but a man.
When we first meet Finn he’s in a formal suit, greeting Brinley politely but cautiously. On their wedding night he eats a burger while wearing his royal wedding pants and a plain T-shirt, straddling the line between traditional prince and regular person eating a burger. He wears funny socks and boxers, hidden beneath his royal finery. He explores the castle’s hidden tunnels with Brinley, and the farther they descend, the more they leave behind the royal expectations, the more real they become with each other. He slowly reveals tiny parts of himself, becoming more accessible to Brinley, and accordingly, the reader.
With Brinley leaping off the first page without a care as to what awaits her, I wanted to counter that with Finn’s slower, more methodical approach, and transform him from a cardboard idea of Prince Charming to a real prince we can believe and invest in. I think I accomplished that, but I’ll leave the final judgment up to you fine (brilliant, beautiful, hilarious, generous, incorruptible) readers.
Do you have a favourite type of hero? Alpha, beta, billionaire, dom, athlete, computer whiz? I used to lean toward the strong, silent (sometimes jerk) type, but the more I write the more variety I want, so my “favourite” is much more flexible.
RELEASE WEEK POST 4!
DO YOU POV WHAT I POV
Point of view (POV) is a big consideration when determining how to tell a story. As both a reader and a writer, I tend to prefer stories told from one POV. There are exceptions to everything, of course, but I think the reason I like it so much is because when you’re inside one character’s head, it gets a bit easy to “tell” the reader things, rather than show them. When we only learn about the other characters through their actions, it forces you to “show” more, and if you’ve read any of my earlier rants, you know I’m a big proponent of showing vs. telling.
I decided to use just one POV for this story because it’s called “Bad Princess” and the whole world is already telling us how they feel about her (spoiler: they think she’s bad), so more POVs seemed unnecessary. I chose third person POV because I liked the fairy tale feel of the voice and felt like it lent itself better to that “royal” tone. If this were a movie, the opening pages would be an omniscient camera floating down through the sky as the narration rolled over, describing beautiful, obedient Elle…and ending with “then Elle ran away and left the world with…Princess Brinley.” Record scratch moment as we settle on Brinley, sitting in a pile of dirt in a torn dress with steak sauce on her face.
I think single POV is helpful when both characters are living the same story, and not venturing terribly far apart. Because Brinley and Finn are thrust together very early on—like it or not—there’s no need to have Finn echo Brinley’s thoughts on the plot, since they’re sharing the story. Because Brinley is so lively and haphazard, I wanted Finn to be more reserved and calm, to contrast and complement her. It also helps that Brinley is unsure of Finn’s feelings, and I didn’t want to tell the reader something the heroine herself didn’t know. (That can work in some instances when you’re trying to develop a certain kind of tension, but that’s not what I wanted here, because it’s a romance and the HEA is guaranteed anyway. It felt redundant.)
I imagine a scene from Finn’s POV to be him peeling a boiled egg, then eating it, then looking out a window, then end. Very Finn-like, but not really an interesting chapter. He’s interesting because we view him and learn to love him through Brinley’s POV, through the way he changes her and she changes the way she sees him, and how that changes how she sees herself. It’s kind of like getting his POV…without actually getting it.
Got it?
I feel like I already know the answer to this because I see an overwhelming number of comments that say “I wish I had the hero’s POV” – but do you have a strong preference for what type of POV you like? Single? Dual? Omniscient?
Point of view (POV) is a big consideration when determining how to tell a story. As both a reader and a writer, I tend to prefer stories told from one POV. There are exceptions to everything, of course, but I think the reason I like it so much is because when you’re inside one character’s head, it gets a bit easy to “tell” the reader things, rather than show them. When we only learn about the other characters through their actions, it forces you to “show” more, and if you’ve read any of my earlier rants, you know I’m a big proponent of showing vs. telling.
I decided to use just one POV for this story because it’s called “Bad Princess” and the whole world is already telling us how they feel about her (spoiler: they think she’s bad), so more POVs seemed unnecessary. I chose third person POV because I liked the fairy tale feel of the voice and felt like it lent itself better to that “royal” tone. If this were a movie, the opening pages would be an omniscient camera floating down through the sky as the narration rolled over, describing beautiful, obedient Elle…and ending with “then Elle ran away and left the world with…Princess Brinley.” Record scratch moment as we settle on Brinley, sitting in a pile of dirt in a torn dress with steak sauce on her face.
I think single POV is helpful when both characters are living the same story, and not venturing terribly far apart. Because Brinley and Finn are thrust together very early on—like it or not—there’s no need to have Finn echo Brinley’s thoughts on the plot, since they’re sharing the story. Because Brinley is so lively and haphazard, I wanted Finn to be more reserved and calm, to contrast and complement her. It also helps that Brinley is unsure of Finn’s feelings, and I didn’t want to tell the reader something the heroine herself didn’t know. (That can work in some instances when you’re trying to develop a certain kind of tension, but that’s not what I wanted here, because it’s a romance and the HEA is guaranteed anyway. It felt redundant.)
I imagine a scene from Finn’s POV to be him peeling a boiled egg, then eating it, then looking out a window, then end. Very Finn-like, but not really an interesting chapter. He’s interesting because we view him and learn to love him through Brinley’s POV, through the way he changes her and she changes the way she sees him, and how that changes how she sees herself. It’s kind of like getting his POV…without actually getting it.
Got it?
I feel like I already know the answer to this because I see an overwhelming number of comments that say “I wish I had the hero’s POV” – but do you have a strong preference for what type of POV you like? Single? Dual? Omniscient?
