Stealing Secrets

How to Make Bingeworthy Books—Ines Johnson from Inkers Con

What made this an excellent presentation at Inkers Con? Ines Johnson. She's personality plus and knows how to work a room!

She concentrated her presentation on discussing how to write books that are more like television episodes in that readers would binge on them in much the same way viewers do. Since her background is in writing for television, she has some knowledge of this.

One of her suggestions—is to make your main characters ones that your readers can empathize with, but since I'm attracted to male heroes that others of my sex describe as Alpha assholes and show numerous traits of toxic masculinity I thought I should pay attention to this. By the end of the book, my heroine usually straightens them out and wear them down. However, I'd like to make my heroine's job easier and keep the nasty notes on my author’s page on Goodreads to a minimum. This is what Inez Johnson has to say:

• Demonstrate your hero or heroines' extraordinary qualities.

• Display their ordinariness in an extraordinary world or situation.

• Have them do something heroic or good in the Save the Cat Scene. For example, in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, the new girl, Buffy, could have been accepted by the cool girl, Cordelia, if she had turned her back on Willow, but Buffy didn't.

According to Ines, we need to do what was done in this episode of Buffy and the Vampire Slayer. Ines uses this show as an example. We meet Willow, and she's so dog-gone cute, but she's the outcast, and Cordelia treats her crappy. Buffy observes this, and right away, Willow gets saved by Buffy. According to Ines, in the first three chapters, we need to do these three things: show our hero's extraordinary qualities, display their ordinariness in exceptional situations, and have them do something good (save the cat.) This is could be tough for me. I’m going to have to show my criminal, morally gray, brothel owner doing something nice, hmm. So far he’s broken up with fiancé after he promised her he’d give up his brothel for the sake of her children and is now going back on his word. Cad, scoundrel! Of course, there’s more to the story, he’s doing it to save her, this is a break up to save her trope. So he’s nice after all, but I still think I’m going to need more here.

Next up is the story question. Interestingly, I've been working diligently on re-working mine over the past two weeks. Your characters' themes or goals might need to be more apparent. What fear is holding them back? What is their real need? Maybe, they need a good beat down by a rival. No, not that. Could be they need to deal with their past…check.

What is the Story question? “Goals and holes rhyme… I think the goal is meant to fill the hole inside a character." Remember there are external goals (I need money) and internal goals (I need to be valued, self-worth.) Forget trying to do any of this if you haven't done some serious work on your character's backstory. Even if you only use a fourth of what you create from your backstory, characters need one.

Ines says there are five pacing moments you can't afford to miss in your romance and attempting to keep readers flipping those pages. If you are new to romance, they are the following:

• Creating Empathy with the Main Character

• Meet Cute

• Fun & Games

• The Dark Moment

• Grand Gesture

Ines feels it's essential to be clear about having these set pieces in your novel to keep the pages turning. You can find many helpful books that cover this material if you are unfamiliar with these romance-pacing moments, and perhaps I'll further explore them another time. I'm going to concentrate on just the Grand Gesture today.

When I first heard this term several years ago, I thought of a guy appearing with a bouquet, a box with a ring, and getting down on one knee. It was the only lame thing I could visualize. Still, I was on the right track because it demonstrated my hero's vulnerability, commitment, and communication by speaking someone's love language. There are all kinds of grand gestures, but the critical part is getting it right for your particular characters. Does your grand gesture do the following?

• Is it emotional and reflect their specific fear?

• Is it the thing they need to do to become transformed?

• Do they transform significantly or make a considerable sacrifice for the other? Ines mentioned the "greatest gesture ever known, the ending of Thelma and Louise movie when Thelma and Louise drive over the cliff together." I agree that was one hell of a grand gesture. Can you imagine other grand gestures in movies, plays, or books that have stayed with you? Please leave under comments.

If you want to receive a roadmap with a workbook for creating romance from Ines, click here, and she will send it to you by joining her mailing list.

That's all for today. Have an excellent week writing! Next week is my last week, covering my favorite sessions from Inkers Con with a discussion of Holly Darling's presentation on Creating a Thriving Email List with Automation. If you've found yourself struggling, Holly has a couple of suggestions to help you…stay tuned.