Creating characters that come alive and jump off the page

Plot lines don’t mean squat without memorable characters.

Characters don’t even really have to be people. Seriously, they can be machines, aliens, animals, plants, whatever. But if they don’t drive the story, then they aren’t doing their job, and they might as well not even be there.

I’ve read science fiction stories and thrillers where things moved along at a good pace from point A to point B, but because the characters were one-dimensional, the trip was forgettable.

I base almost all my characters on real people, either people that I know or have met somewhere along the way. One of the characters in my supernatural thriller, LILITH, was an aircraft carrier called the USS Gerald R. Ford. That’s right—it was a ship. Hey, they don’t call ships “she” for nothing. Since the Ford was not yet commissioned at the time, I based it on the USS Harry S. Truman, where I had spent several days at sea. Believe me, those ships have personalities all their own, and I tried to bring that across in LILITH by describing things I had experienced while aboard the Truman.

The character of Hunter Singleton, one of the main protagonists of my stories, is based mainly on me, but also on other people I have known. He has a back story, he has a distinct personality, he has interests, dislikes, quirks, certain physical qualities—he even speaks a certain way. You can always tell when Hunter is talking, because he’s a smart ass. Kind of like me. He’s adopted, half Cherokee Indian and half white. He’s a reporter for a national news agency. He knows Kung Fu and doesn’t mind using it when necessary. And he’s usually up to his eyeballs in trouble.

Lisa Singleton, Hunter’s wife, also has certain physical characteristics and personality traits that distinguish her from other female characters. For instance, she’s a park ranger and a black belt in Wing Chun Kung Fu, which she taught to her husband. Her father is Chinese and her mother African American. She’s quite beautiful, like her mother, and small, but also pretty handy with her fists as well as with a gun. If you piss her off, she will take you down.

Lilith, the main antagonist, is more of a conglomeration of different people. I tried to make her evil, but also gave her some faults and frailties, and a back story that will make readers want to sympathize as well as be repulsed. Awesome combination!

There’s a back story with Hunter and Lisa as a couple, and I plan on getting more deeply into their personal stories as they progress through each adventure. The next book to feature them, PRIMORDIAL, is still in the writing stage.

Characters that are integral to the story should have traits that set them apart from other characters—physical traits, quirks, flaws, whatever. They should all speak with a different voice, as well, though that is sometimes hard to do. Characters who I know will only be in one scene I don’t spend as much time on, because they won’t be around long enough for anyone to really care. They’re just there to help move the plot along.

I also like to give flaws to my characters, because real people have flaws. For instance, Hunter has an inordinate fear of flying. As do I. I do not like airplanes, or even tall ladders.

In my latest book, GOD PARTICLE, my protagonist is a 16-year-old girl. Not being a 16-year-old girl myself, I had to draw from people I know, like my own wife and daughter, for instance, who helped me immensely with the character. Chloe is Chinese, adopted as a baby by a loving Swiss/American family. Hence the last name ‘Johansson.’ Not too many Chinese people have the name ‘Johansson.’

 

Chloe is also extremely intelligent, already a freshman engineering student at MIT. But she is a little bit spoiled. And selfish. And maybe a little hard headed.

Characters also need some type of friction within the story, something to overcome that will make them grow and reach beyond their own self-imposed boundaries. Just like in real life. Chloe nearly becomes overwhelmed by the events that take place in the GOD PARTICLE, but she has an amazing inner strength that helps get her through. Plus, she prays a lot.

Lively characters are extremely important to my novels. The stories are usually centered on the characters I create, and things move forward because of their actions, or inaction. Without realistic, memorable characters, the literary world can be a bland place, indeed.

For more information on my latest books, find me on the web at www.tobytatestories.com.

The GOD PARTICLE explodes!

I found that there were a few rules for writing THE GOD PARTICLE, a young adult sci-fi thriller, that don’t always apply to writing adult thrillers.  

For one thing, they say (they being young adult writing experts), that you should establish the age of the protagonist right away so young people will connect quickly. The first paragraph says, “I had the perfect life. I was going to MIT at the age of sixteen…” Check.

Another thing they suggest is writing in first person so readers can feel like they are right there with your character. Most of the book is in first person, except for the parts where I’m following another character, switching back and forth kind of the way James Patterson does. So again, check.

An eye-catching front cover is, of course, paramount to getting good sales. Thanks to Stan Tremblay of Find the Axis.com, I was able to comply. Check again.

I also didn’t want the book to be too wordy. I wanted it to zip along at a good pace, which I did by writing short chapters and keeping the word count at around 40,000. That’s a pretty quick read, even for someone with a short attention span like me. My previous book had short chapters, but was over 70,000 words.

The experts say to never talk down to your audience, because they may be young, but they’re also sophisticated. I wanted something intriguing, a subject that had spent some time in the public eye, and the God particle was the perfect subject.  Most everyone had heard of it, and it was still enough of a mystery that I could put my own twist on it without it seeming too far-fetched. The story involves particle physics, wormholes and multi-dimensional space, but it’s not so complicated that it loses the reader. I speak in a way any layman can understand.

Of course, there was a lot of research and fact-checking involved, but that’s true with all my novels.

Despite the age group of your readership, good characters have to populate the pages of any story to keep it interesting. Shallow, one-dimensional characters will pull your story down and your sales along with it. And you can forget any sequels. All my characters in all my books are well fleshed-out (so to speak), according to their importance in the storyline. There is a lot of dark drama involved as well, where our characters fight seemingly impossible odds. Suspense can make a good story great.

I usually make it a point to get at least one endorsement for my books. For GOD PARTICLE I managed to get Roy Huff, the #1 Amazon bestselling author of EVERVILLE: The First Pillar, who called it “…a fast-paced, fun read!” Thanks Roy!

I had a lot of fun writing GOD PARTICLE, and I think you will have a great time reading it. Pick up a copy now for only $2.99 at Amazon, B&N.com, Smashwords or Crossroad Press.

Check me out on the web when you get a chance at www.tobytatestories.com.

Researching the novel: Making it real and getting it right

In his book ON WRITING, Stephen King said, “Do the research, but don’t overdo it for the reader.” Writers like me should probably take that to heart. But it’s tough, because I love to make things real.

In my last book, LILITH, I wanted the reader to feel like they were there on the USS Gerald R. Ford with me. Being ex-navy, I spent many a day sailing the ocean blue on several different ships, so that experience came in quite handy when it was time to write. I also managed to spend some time aboard a carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, which was pretty awesome. I got to stand right out on the flight deck while the jets were taking off and landing, rattling my bones until I thought they would fracture. The picture below is one I took myself of a navy jet landing in 2010.

For LILITH, I researched several different types of weapons used by Special Forces and CIA, the CIA and its methods, nuclear fission and nuclear power, DNA and genetic mutation, animal tracking, New York City, especially Manhattan Island and its layout, the abandoned New York City subway tunnels, hurricanes and weather patterns, the offices and buildings used by the mayor of New York, the type of security used by the mayor, on and on and on. I used Google maps to see exactly what the parks and buildings looked like at street level and videos to see what the abandoned subway tunnels were like. I even enlisted the help of a retired navy commander to get my facts straight about the USS Gerald Ford, which has yet to be commissioned. 

  

The research itself took a good six months, the writing another six months. In the end, I had to cut 10,000 words out of the book to secure a contract with DarkFuse, most of it having to do with the back story, via the musings of the ship’s chaplain, Commander Crane, of the creature that takes over the ship. But it was worth it, because the back story will be fleshed out in the sequel, PRIMORDIAL, which I am now writing.

For PRIMORDIAL, as with all my other books; DIABLERO (Nightbird Publishing, Oct. 2010), GOD PARTICLE (Crossroad Press, June 2013), and THE BLACK CHURCH (DarkFuse, Dec. 2013), I did most of the research beforehand. Most of the action for PRIMORDIAL will be set on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean, but there are also scenes in Romania, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Sicily, and Washington D.C.

Since I am not an archeologist and have limited knowledge on the subject, I enlisted the help of archeologists and geomorphologists from Boston U. and NC State, and even picked up a book about the basics of archeology, just so I could get the jargon right. I looked at videos of several different dig sites on Crete, researched modern Crete and its ancient Minoan civilization, which figures heavily in the plot, and did more research on the CIA, nuclear radiation, DNA and genetic mutation. And that’s just the basic stuff.

Sometimes it seems like the research will never end. I just want to turn off the computer and say, “Forget it! I’m going fishing!” But even though I make my share of mistakes, I am a stickler for realism, and getting it right. If I say, “He walked through the gate and into the park,” you can be sure that I have either been there, or I looked it up on a recent video or photo and saw a gate in front of that park.

But in spite of all the necessary research, a writer can’t forget the most important element of any story: the human element. But I’ll save that for next time.

Are you a writer? Do you do a lot of research before you write? How do you go about it? Leave me a comment and tell me about it. If you have a question about research, feel free to leave a comment, as well.

For more information on me and my books, find me on the web at www.tobytatestories.com. Thanks for reading!

Why writers need good editors

I’ve done the self-publishing thing, if for no other reason than to say, “I did it.” It was not my first book, however.

DIABLERO, a supernatural thriller that featured a resurrected, demon-possessed Blackbeard the Pirate, was published first in paperback by Nightbird Publishing in 2010 and then by Crossroad Press as an eBook in 2011.

So why do a self-published book, you may ask? Well, I think I can sum it up in one word: vanity. I wanted to get my collection of short stories out there, and none of my publishers wanted to publish a short-story collection. So I figured, what the hey, I’ll just do it myself. Shadowland was published as an eBook in 2011 with Amazon, Sony and elsewhere. 

I won’t say it was a bad decision—it was what it was. But only one of the stories, Gray Area, had gone through any kind of rigorous editing. The rest were stories that I had written and reworked several times. 

I hate to admit it, but it shows. Although several of the stories have since been edited and published elsewhere, (see Shadowland inVoluted Tales Magazine #2), they weren’t really the best they could be. Unfortunately, I didn’t have access to any editors that charged less than $1,000 per manuscript, which really wasn’t in my budget. 

I said all that to say this: editing really does make a difference. I love my editors at DarkFuse and Crossroad Press—they give a professional edge to my writing by making sure the story has continuity, catching grammatical and punctuation errors that I otherwise would have missed, and even helping reword things that could be said in a better, more concise way. I would have to pay someone several thousand dollars to do what they do, so I am eternally thankful to have their expertise.

For my second novel, LILITH, a supernatural thriller that puts a mythological creature aboard an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean, I was ready to pay a tidy sum for a good editor. But DarkFuse made an offer before I did so, and author Greg Gifune ended up being my editor, so I was happy.

My next book, GOD PARTICLE, a young adult sci-fi thriller that features Chloe Johansson, a globe-trotting sixteen-year-old MIT prodigy, is due out June 4, 2013 and will be published by Crossroad press. My editor there, David Dodd, did an excellent job catching all my dumb mistakes and I think improved my chances of getting good sales. Not a bad thing. 

If you decide to self-publish, my advice is spend the money and find yourself the best editor you can afford, one that knows the business and knows what to look for in a manuscript. Believe me, the money will be well-spent. Don’t put a half-assed manuscript out there, because readers judge you by the quality of your writing, and if one manuscript isn’t up to par, it could affect the sales of any other books you publish.

Michael Garrett, who once worked with Stephen King and other big name authors, offers an excellent service at a reasonable price for anyone who is interested. I only mention him because I was so impressed with his attitude and work ethic. There are probably many other good editors out there, but do your research and make sure they know what they’re talking about, otherwise you’ll spend a fortune and have nothing to show for it.

How to Market Your eBook - One Publisher’s Thoughts

Crossroad Press, publisher of my first novel, DIABLERO, and of my coming young adult sci-fi thriller, CHLOE JOHANSSON and THE GOD PARTICLE, has been around now for several years and has published something in the vicinity of 600 titles. So if anyone knows about marketing in this age of e-books, it would be author and publisher David Niall Wilson.

How should authors promote their books – specifically eBooks – is a question that – as you might imagine – is very near and dear to me. I’ve studied it. I’ve lived it. I’ve come to some conclusions, and while I’m sure some will come as no surprise, and some will irritate, frustrate, or anger a few readers, I’m going to pass on what I’ve figured out so far.

Selling your eBook is no different than selling a traditional book. Famous authors sell a lot of eBooks. Midlist authors sell more than most, but less than famous people. So it goes. The only advantage that eBooks have is the Internet, and the Internet is not ‘easy’.

There are now thousands of newsletters, groups, message boards, blog rings, etc. dedicated to “marketing” your eBook. There are a sackful of social media sites and ‘tools’ people will push as ‘the’ way to sell your books. They will offer to doctor up your SEO. They will talk about Facebook and Twitter campaigns. They will set up blog tours for you.

Here’s the truth. ALL of the things that you have heard of can sell books, but the key – the simple key that is always missed – is that whatever you use to promote your work has to reach people who are readers. Most of the above-mentioned tools and methods are best at connecting you to thousands of other authors trying to sell their books, but very few of them are buying books. You might get into a reciprocal setup where you all buy one another’s books and review them, but that is the equivalent of a circle jerk, and won’t do a thing to promote your book.

Here’s the simple truth. The only thing that will sell eBooks is getting a clickable link in front of a large number of people who a: read books and b: don’t know who you are. Your Facebook feed is seen by … your ‘friends’. If you are an author, it probably has a fair number of other authors and publishers on it – but a limited number of people who are your fans, or who read regularly and are there for books. It’s not an effective tool for selling books unless you find a way to draw people to it who are only there to read.

Your Twitter feed – if you are outgoing, charming, handsome, beautiful, funny, etc – you may be able to use it to raise your number of useful followers. If you can engage famous people and get them to promote you in any way, retweet your promotional links – that can work too. If you are just a regular Joe, don’t have a lot of time to hang out on line and create a “personality” – again – it’s a very limited tool and not that useful in selling books.

THE most useful promotion on the Internet is simple to define and very, very difficult to achieve. The best way to sell eBooks is to get a one-click-to-buy link either visible on a major retail site, or on some other site with heavy traffic. Yes, I realize this means that it’s just as hard to sell a ton of copies of an eBook as it was to sell traditional books. It’s the truth, and I think, the first thing I said.

My suggestion is this. With patience, and care, you build your presence. You write. You write steadily and do not spend more time promoting things you have already written than you do writing new things. Keep a steady flow of new material out there. You have a blog or a website – depending on your skill level. Keep it populated with new content. Write about yourself and your work, even if no one seems to be paying attention. Link those posts to your Twitter account, and your Facebook account. Use tags and key words on your posts so that people find them. Make sure there are links to buy your books on your website, synopses of the books, maybe a few sample chapters. Do NOT make the whole site nothing but a static advertisement, make it someplace people might return to. Make sure it has the RSS feeds and a newsletter form where people can subscribe.

If you use Facebook – have one page for your personal contacts, and one page for your author’s page. Don’t put the same content on both. Don’t make new pages for your new books…use the one page, and build the following for that. Do not invite everyone to events every time you release a book, etc…only the same people who see your feed see those, and only a small number of them will opt in- just post your material on your author’s page.

Twitter – the same. You have already set up blog posts to populate it, but you have to seek out interesting people, talk with them, get them to acknowledge you and talk back – build a network. If you do this well enough, after a while, you’ll see the numbers of your followers grow. One of the best ways to find interesting people to follow is to go to the Twitter page of people you admire – and see who THEY follow.

Spend some time on each site every day, but not so much you don’t have time to write. If you are talented – if your books are good – you will gain traction. Always look for ways to get that treasured one-click-to-buy link in front of as many people who have never heard of you as possible. Don’t waste your time marketing over and over to the same tiny pool of people…and write. Did I mention that? Spending a year selling the one book you wrote is a recipe for failure.

If you get help, or pay for help, check that help out carefully. Ask them to prove results, and not just in numbers of possibly fake friends or followers, but in sales. If a new promotional tool (that costs nothing) becomes available – try it – give it an honest evaluation. If it works, great. If not, move on. Don’t listen to gurus. Most of them don’t really know why they sold a lot of books, but are perfectly willing to sit on soap boxes and explain it – OR – they tell you things that are only part of the picture without explaining the contacts that got their one-click-to-buy links in front of a lot of people.

Trust your instincts. Be patient. Write.

I hope this has – in some way – been helpful.

David Niall Wilson

Crossroad Press

Awesome LILITH book reviews and entertaining interviews

There are so many reviews and interviews from the last couple of months floating around, I thought I would put them together in one comprehensive list just so those interested can take a look at what’s out there. I will eventually be putting all this up on my website, but in the meantime…

Reviews

A great review of LILITH by TT Zuma of Horror World: http://horrorworld.org/hw/2013/01/lilith/

Another cool review from Jim Mcleod at Ginger Nuts of Horror

http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.com/2012/12/review-lilith-by-toby-tate.html

A really nice review from author Christopher Allen Ridge at Creature Corner

http://creaturecritter.blogspot.com/2013/01/looking-for-good-book.html

Another great one from Jennifer L. Oliver’s blog

http://jenniferloliver.com/2013/01/behind-the-quill-reviews-lilith/

An awesome review from Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes at Mallory Heart Reviews

http://archiestandwoodsreviewsandwritings.blogspot.com/2013/01/lilith-by-toby-tatereview.html

Got a thumbs up from Library Journal, but you need a subscription to read the whole thing

http://www.bookverdict.com/details.xqy?uri=20461865.xml

Interviews

Here’s a fun interview I did with Kent Holloway, publisher of Seven Realms Publishing

http://www.kenthollowayonline.com/2013/01/let-me-introduce-you-totoby-tate.html

The Five Minute Interview series with Jim Mcleod of Ginger Nuts of Horror from the UK

http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/interview-5-minutes-with-toby-tate.html

My interview for THE BIG THRILL webzine

http://www.thebigthrill.org/2012/12/lilith-by-toby-tate/

My guest blog post on author Lee Thompson’s website

http://www.leethompsonfiction.com/?p=1871

The Thriller Roundtable, where I answer the question, “Which authors have inspired you?”

http://www.thebigthrill.org/2013/01/january-7-13-which-authors-have-inspired-you/#comment-5508

Another Thriller Roundtable, where I answer the question, “How do you determine when a story is ready?”

http://www.thebigthrill.org/2013/01/coming-january-28-february-3-how-do-you-determine-when-a-story-is-ready/

I’m also being interviewed for my local paper and will post a link to that when it becomes available. If these interviews and reviews make you feel like purchasing a book or two, the links are below. Thanks for reading!

LILITH on Amazon, available in e-book and paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Lilith-ebook/dp/B00AV8SXKA/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1357078551&sr=1-3

LILITH at Barnes & Noble, paperback only (so far)

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lilith-toby-tate/1112557250?ean=9781937771515

Want to order a signed paperback? Just call Page After Page bookstore at 252-335-7243, and get free shipping anywhere in the U.S.!

WIN A SIGNED COPY OF LILITH!

The best way to sell a new book is by word of mouth, so I am offering a copy out of my personal stash of LILITH paperbacks to be given away in a drawing.

Basically, it goes like this: Be one of the first ten people to buy the e-book and write an honest review for LILITH on Amazon, and you will be entered into a drawing to win a signed and personalized trade paperback of LILITH. Believe me, that amazing artwork on the cover looks even better in print than it does on an e-book.

Also, I will digitally sign the e-book via Authorgraph.com for everyone that buys an e-book between now and March. Just go to Authorgraph and type in LILITH, and it should come up. What more could you ask for than that? Besides, if you keep it long enough, it could be worth money someday – you never know!

Plus, when the sequel comes out, you’ll be all caught up!

Happy reading!