Intriguing Observations: Live. Write. Thrive.

The Intriguing Observations series was created to gather some of the greatest supporters and bloggers to provide their own insight on all things creative both in their ventures and their techniques. This week on the guest series is another all-star supporter and NY Times Bestselling author, Bob Mayer.

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No Matter the Genre, All Great Books Start With a Great Idea

The kernel idea is the Alpha and the Omega of your book, no matter what genre you are writing in.  By that I mean a single idea starts your creative process and it completes it.  It’s what you begin with and at the end of the manuscript, everything in the book points toward it.

The kernel idea is the foundation of your novel.  When I say idea, I don't necessarily mean the theme, although it can be.  Or the most important incident, although it can be.  But it can also be a setting.  It can be a scene.  It can be a character.

It is simply the first idea you had that was the seed of your novel.  All else can change, but the idea can’t.  It might be a place; a person; an event; a moral; whatever.  But you did have it before you began writing and you must remember it as you write.  If you don't, your story and style will suffer terribly.  You should be able to tell your idea in one sentence.  And repeat it to yourself every morning when you wake up and prior to writing.  Knowing it will keep you on track.

Every new book I begin, I write out this one sentence on a word document as the very first writing I do.  I print it out and put it where I can constantly see it. If you can't do remember this one sentence, then you need to backtrack through your thought processes and find it, because you had to have had it.  Everything starts from something.  Idea is not story.  Because every idea has been done, but every story hasn't.  The kernel idea is the one thing in your manuscript that cannot change.

In one of my early novels, the original idea was an action:  What if Special Forces soldiers had to destroy an enemy pipeline?  That's it for Dragon Sim-13.  Not very elaborate, you say.  True.  Not exactly a great moral theme.  Right.  But with that original idea there was a lot I could do and eventually had to do.  I had to change the target country after the first draft.  But that was all right because I still had the idea.  I had to change characters, but that was fine too, because it didn't change my idea.  I had to change the reason why they were attacking a pipeline, but again, the original idea was the same.

You will have plenty of latitude for story after you come up with your kernel idea; in fact, I sometimes find the finished manuscript turns out to be different from what I had originally envisioned, but one thing is always true: that kernel idea is still there at the end as the Omega.

For my first kernel idea, I made it as simple as possible to enable me to focus on the writing because when I was in the Special Forces my A-Team had run a similar mission on a pipeline.   Since I had a good idea what would happen in the story, I could concentrate on the actual writing of the novel.
I've sat in graduate literature classes and heard students say:  "The author had to have a moral point in mind when they wrote that book."  I agree, but sometimes it is not at the forefront of the story.  Many authors write simply to tell a story started by that kernel idea, which indeed might be a moral point, but sometimes is a story that they wanted to tell and the theme developed subsequently.

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A moral or theme (screenwriters call it intent) always does appear in a book by the time it’s done.   No matter what conscious expectations or thoughts an author has when they start writing, a lot more appears in the manuscript than they consciously anticipated.

After you have that kernel idea, you should spend a lot of time wrestling with it and consciously uncover your feelings and thoughts about it.  I try to look at my main characters and determine what will happen to them emotionally, physically and spiritually as they go through the story.  Who are they at the beginning of the story and who are they at the end?

This is an example of being aware of what you are doing.  I said above that not all authors have a conscious theme when they write a novel, but experience has taught me that it is better to have your theme in your conscious mind before you start writing.  It might not be your original idea, but it will definitely affect your characters and story.

The reason it is important to have a theme in mind is because people want to care about what they read and the characters.  If there is some moral or emotional relevance to the story they read, they will become more involved in the story and enjoy it more.  Even if the reader doesn't consciously see it either.  
Let me give you more examples of ideas I’ve used and gotten published:

What if the force that destroyed Atlantis ten thousand years ago comes back and threatens our world?  Atlantis series of books.

What if mankind didn’t originate the way we think we did?  Area 51 series.

What if Japan succeeded in its atomic bomb program at the very end of World War II and one of those bombs was hidden at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge?  The Gate

Another way to try to figure out what the core of your novel is this:  What is the climactic scene?  This is when the protagonist and antagonist meet to resolve the primary problem that is the crux of the novel.  This is what the entire book is driving towards.

Where’s the shiver?

What excited you so much that you decided to sit in the dark and writer 100,00 words.  That’s not normal, in case no one’s told you.  What excites people you talk to about your book?  I know I’m on target with an idea if others pick up my excitement when I discuss it.

Remember, as a writer, you are selling emotion and logic.  And Kirk always trumps Spock.
A key to selling your book is being able to communicate this shiver to other people.  To get them as excited as you were when you first began writing.

Bob Mayer is the NY Times Bestselling author of factual thrillers. He steeps his stories in military, historical and scientific facts, then weaves those facts through fiction creating an exciting ride for the reader.  He’s a West Point graduate, former Green Beret, and author of more than 50 books all available in eBook that have sold over 4 million copies.  He’s been on bestseller lists in thriller, science fiction, suspense, action, war, historical fiction and is the only male author on the Romance Writers of America Honor Roll.  He is one of the bestselling indie authors in the country.
Twitter: Bob_Mayer
Sites: www.bobmayer.org   www.whodareswinspublishing.com

Intriguing Observations: Inspiring Locations

The Intriguing Observations series was created to gather some of the greatest supporters and bloggers to provide their own insight on all things creative both in their ventures and their techniques. This week on the guest series is another all-star supporter and an outstanding wordsmith Jen Talty.

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Everyone has a place where they “think”. It’s a place where our mind just wonders deep into thought about anything and everything. I have two thinking places. The first one is in the shower. The problem is the moment I step out of the shower, the intense thoughts have left me and that’s a problem when those intense thoughts are great dialogue for my book. Or anything else having to do with my book.

If I happen to have a light bulb moment I have to run out of the shower and go write it down. Otherwise, gone forever or until my next shower.

I sometimes try not to think in the shower. That’s interesting…and impossible. It’s like my brain goes shower…think…shower…think and there is no stopping it. I do believe I have some great ideas that occur to me while in the shower.

The second place my brain thinks is in the car while I’m driving somewhere. This too poses a problem. I have a voice recorder on my phone, so the problem isn’t necessarily that I don’t have the ability to get my thoughts down, its that the thinking aspect is so intense I don’t think to get the voice recorder out until it’s too late and my brain and I have left the vehicle and the thoughts behind.

The bigger problem with my brain thinking in the car is that I have a tendency to forget where I’m going. I also sometimes forget there are “real” people in the car with me. For example, driving my children to hockey rinks. They will yell “mom, mom, mom, mother, mother, JENNIFER!” and they yell this a few times until they finally have my attention and they tell me I drove right past the exit about 8 exits ago. ARGH!

There are other places I like to think. When I walk. Or when I’m at the gym. I used to play golf and I’d think a lot out there, but then I’d walk right past my ball on the fairway, up to the putting green and realize I hadn’t take a swing at my ball to get it to the green…yeah, that’s a problem. When I’m cleaning, I’m thinking. And thinking, and thinking. When I’m doing cleaning, I go to the computer and type out my thoughts. However, these other places the thoughts tend to linger with me longer.

I have to wonder if the intense thoughts I have in the shower or while driving have to do with some sort of “safe” feeling my brain has. It’s like my brain has it’s own free will and does whatever it wants. Any other place I think, including while cleaning or just going for a walk, I feel like I have control over my brain, but in the shower, or driving, nope, it just wonders off were it wants to and then the moment I stop, it stops too. But worse, it hides those wonderful thoughts deep and then I have to play “mind” games with myself to find them. Most of the time the brain gives them. It as if the brain understands how important they are to me, but either enjoys watching me freak out that I can’t remember what I was thinking, or is trying to teach me a lesson to pay attention.

The mind is a wonderful thing. Now, I must go shower…I need to write, so hoping the brain works its magic  so I have something to work with when I sit down in front of the computer.

Where are your favorite places to think?

Jen Talty is Co-Creator of Who Dares Wins Publishing, Author of Romantic Suspense, Speaker, Writing Instructor and Hockey Mom. 

Website: http://www.jentalty.com/
Twitter: @jentalty
Who Dares Wins Publishing: http://whodareswinspublishing.com/

A Titanic Story

"I think that it was definitely a goal of Titanic to integrate a very personal, very emotional, and very intimate [story]... something that has a profound impact on your imagination..." - James Cameron

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In today's industry where publishers, Hollywood, music and even game developers are constantly in a race to 'remake' previous works or produce ones that are so similar to what has already been successful that they couldn't make it in the witness protection program, one wonders how it is possible to make something significant.

I recently had the pleasure to see the re-release of James Cameron epic as Titanic 3D. While I had seen pieces of this behemoth before, I never really saw it from beginning to end nor had I ever looked at this in terms of story. After watching I can only marvel at the culmination of elements that conspired to make it a true modern 'epic.'

Examining the story it seems to be a very simple romance. The boy from the wrong side of the tracks, the rich socialite that wants to escape her confining life, the jealous bad-guy fiancé and the helpful friends. On paper this sounds rather mundane, it very well sounds like almost any other romantic story in existence. So, where does this story become an epic?

The setting for the story is aboard the ill-fated cruise ship in 1912, this is not an original setting by any stretch of the imagination, There are no fewer than fifty different movies about the ship not counting the hundreds of documentaries. If we look at strictly the literary scene there are thousands and thousands of fictionalized accounts with a large percentage of them as romance stories. While tragic, this setting does not necessarily equate to an 'epic.'

If it's not the overall story or the setting, one might wonder if it's the characters that make this such a significant story. The characters are quite flat overall with a street kid, the socialite cheating fiancée, a controlling millionaire, and countless other rather flat characters. The superficial details to their lives, the personality traits and their interactions do not even pertain to an 'epic story.' Just sampling quotes reveals how dull or predictable most interactions are and how unusual some of the dialogs are.

Are the Events of the story what drives it to epic status? Outside of context you have a poker game, a guy that talks a socialite out of suicide, a dinner where socialites discuss status, a number of conversations about foreshadowing, a 'low-brow' party, a violent outburst from the millionaire towards his fiancée, a drawing session, a romantic moment between the star-crossed lovers, a moment of false imprisonment, survival on the sinking ship, treading water, character death and finally the heart/staircase. Is it the events that make this story epic? If it is the case then the story should be able to be moved to any other setting and have the same results.

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After looking at all of the elements it is abundantly clear at what makes this piece an epic, a story that is still successful 15 years later. It's the emotional punch.

The romantic story feels unique and new because the characters are drawn together in a believable way, reacting in an expected but emotional manner. The characters conveyed the emotions of each event in such a manner that even years after everyone knows the whole plot that people still react emotionally to Jack attempting to escape from the handcuffs or when Rose is slapped. The setting keeps the story together, it makes it a period piece that never feels out of place where technology can give away the age of the piece and pull the audience from it. These emotional punches culminate with the very moment that makes it an epic. Jack's death.

If the story had concluded with Jack and Rose making a new life together it would certainly be a happy ending but it would never even touch epic status. The only plausible ending was to take the one thing that the audience became so attached to throughout the journey, their relationship, and breaking it with something beyond their control. Old Rose's photos and the staircase scene give a sense of completion but also convey immense emotion. Even to this day, the audience can see an image from one of the 'emotional hits' and immediately feel it personally.

So what makes a story an epic? Is it unhappy endings? Is it the story alone? Is it the characters, their lives, the setting or the events? It is a culmination of all of these elements, each element that comes with it's own emotional hit and is then tied together. Creating a Titanic story is not about the individual elements or what they represent but the emotions that they convey.

Intriguing Perspectives

"There's nothing new under the sun." -John Lennon


Every narrative, every composition has existed in one form or another for as long as people have been able to create. The tools and mediums for these have continued to evolve over time but the inherent core of these compositions have remained the same.

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In any creative effort, while it's clear that it's not the first incarnation of a composition, it's the artist, their perspective that creates something unique.

Every artist regardless of medium has a unique approach and an entirely unique perspective to breathe life into their compositions. The combination of elements; tone, saturation, angle, lighting, settings and even characters are utilized in a distinct manner that only the artist envisions.

While there is nothing new under the sun, every composition is an assemblage of elements and while those elements may have been used before by another artist, the variations of each element assure that each composition is wholly unique. Every individual has their own perspective and this means that a person can observe the same composition but see different features of that composition.

So long as there are artists, there will always be unique compositions regardless of medium.

Sustaining Believability

"The characters have to be true to themselves. The events need to follow a logic that fits the story. A single flaw and the magic is gone. The story dies." ~ Sam Lake


When a writer crafts their work they know that the story will not stand on it's own. More often than not, their work will be a piece of a series. While each piece needs to be complete in-of-itself with the ability to stand on its own, it's little more than a chapter of the larger story. Just like the singular story, the series will be it's own ride with its' own pacing, its' own suspense, tension and excitement. Unfortunately the most difficult part of crafting a larger story from the pieces is sustaining the continuity, the connections, between the pieces.

As the individual piece is crafted the writer often focuses intently on creating a believable, cohesive story that is wound so tightly that the audience can not foresee the dips in the ride. On its' own, the piece is a solid ride but as the audience expects it to lead to the next they are often disappointed. The connections between the first in a series and the next are jarring transitions. Why?

In the past, when a writer published a series the time delay between one piece and the next could exceed a year or more. This delay meant that when the next piece was released all of the recurring elements including setting, characters, themes and such would need to be re-introduced to the same detail that they were in the first piece. In addition to re-introducing the elements from the first in the series, the changes and events of the previous story(s) must also be reflected. Now, the delay between pieces has been shortened sometimes down to a matter of months between each. This means fewer details are re-introduced and repeated. Yet, there are still jarring transitions between most pieces in a series.

The largest failing for most when crafting a series of works is maintaining the same elements that are observed in the introductory piece. The tone can shift from one work to the next or more jarringly, the characters shift dramatically. While they act within the framework of the current story and it helps propel the current story, they are completely different characters from one piece to the next. These elements shift so dramatically that they do not match the overall work.

While some works were never intended to be part of a larger story, most were devised as continuing 'adventures,' a means of taking the favored characters and carrying them on so that the audience has more time with them. The strongest series are treated the same as other artistic mediums. Diptychs, Triptychs and so forth. One piece feeds into the next and while they are strong alone, they are even stronger when viewed as part of that series.

Defining the Absence

When any creative piece is crafted the artist must analyze and interpret a number of elements to bring their vision to life. Just as a painter or sculptor must consider the aspects that they must insert into their composition they must also consider how they will use what they will not include.

The Negative Space of a composition is just as integral to the piece as every brush stroke or chisel mark. The artist can use it to add depth to the composition, further define the structure of the piece and act as a transition between the elements.

As an artist sculpts their piece from the void they select the elements that will serve the piece best whether by insertion or omission. The negative space is not a simple void but strategically implemented space that can bring the composition to life. Sculptors often utilize the negative space of a piece to draw the shadows and light the piece with emotion much like a writer can wield implications through omitted events. That which is omitted can bring events, actions and even emotions for characters into sharper focus.

While the negative space defines the piece, the structure and shape of that space can be molded to guide the audience's perception. In the visual arts this can be done to define the focal point of the piece, while a literary perception on this can be called a theme. A specific attempt by the creator to shape a piece towards one singular point, one event, that the creator wishes to convey.

The most common use of negative space in any creative piece is it's use as a transitional element to prevent inconsistencies or detract from the piece. It is not only more powerful to bypass the 'mundane' parts to keep the piece cohesive but by leveraging that negative space a piece can enhance the emotional impact of what is crafted.

In writing, negative space is just as prevalent as in any other art. When characters are describing traveling to location and the next scene is the characters at that location the journey to that location is implied, it is negative space. When characters act according to their past history but do not explain it, it is implied even though it is omitted. These omissions in the writing are actually the negative space in the piece.

In any creative piece what is sculpted and what is omitted are equally important elements. While there is an extensive amount of attention that is given to what is crafted, it is imperative to understand that what is omitted is still integral to the structure of the piece and has its own impact.

How do you use the negative space? Do you arrange your piece with the impact of that space in mind?