NEW Steampunk Anthology by Author Joylene Nowell Butler
A warm welcome to today’s guest Joylene Nowell Butler with her newest release
Joylene, Métis, has been writing her entire life. She began her first novel in 1983 to honour the passing of her father. Today she and her husband live in the home they built with their own hands on Cluculz Lake. Her first novel Dead Witness was a finalist in the 2012 Global eBook Awards. Her suspense thriller Broken But Not Dead won the 2012 IPPY Silver Medal for Canada West. Her newest novel Break Time, the steampunk anthology is now available on Kindle and in print. Joylene is currently applying final touches to two suspense thrillers. Contact her at cluculzwriter at yahoo dot ca
HEROES: Standing the Test of Time
I’m often asked how I create strong protagonists for my suspense novels. I love answering that question because in the initial stages my protagonists are anything but strong.
When introduced for the first time, Valerie (Dead Witness), Brendell (Broken But Not Dead), and Dakota (Break Time), tortured my beta readers with their blandness.
My weakness lies in structure, so creating a compelling protagonist isn’t a priority until the second draft. Sorry, critique partners.
Through editing and revising I’m able to spin those flat, cardboard characters into real heroes.
How?
Crafting.
Take flawed, boring characters, who are often self-deluded, threatened their loved ones or their world, then watch as they have no choice but to become reluctant heroes.
Readers are presented with a wide array of suspense novels today, so to compete, our cover must be striking, the blurb must whet their appetite, and the first page must hook them.
None of that matters if our narrator is a bore.
Over the course of her life, Valerie (DW) has given up her identity to please everyone. Weighed down by her responsibilities, she’s lost herself.
However, after the FBI fakes her death, Valerie doesn’t ask someone else to save her children when the mafia threatens to kill them to stop her from testifying. Nor does she think twice about risking her life. She does what’s needed to save her family.
Brendell (BBND) is a miserable, bitter, middle-aged woman. How do you turn such a character around so readers love her the way you do? (BBND won IPPY Silver Medal, 2012)
While writing her story, I listened. I learned why she was bitter. Too many times society had kicked her while she was down. When the story opens, Brendell–enshrouded in her bitterness–has one redeeming quality: she is a good mother who adores her daughter Zoe.
That adoration is her saving grace. When a deranged psychopath threatens Zoe, Brendell goes after him with the fury of a lioness protecting her cub.
To date, Dakota (BT) is the most difficult character I’ve ever written. He’s a seer who scorns his gift; and like Brendell, can’t trust easily. Anticipating his next moves became brutal. Because Break Time is a collaborative steampunk anthology, I didn’t have the luxury of a full novel to explore his motivations.
But again, like Valerie and Brendell, Dakota is a flawed character who loves his family so profoundly, he’s able to commit the ultimate act to save them.
By now you’ve noticed a common thread running through my work. All my protagonists feel alienated and alone, yet are willing to risk everything, including their lives, for the sake of loved ones.
In 1983 I lost my father. Between 1991 and 2006, we lost our twins. Thirty-one years and I continue to create heroes who are able to do what I couldn’t. And while to me that seems pathetic, it’s what many writers do. We create heroes who fix what we can’t.
We liv life vicariously through them.
If you’re a writer, then you understand that writing is who you are. Regardless of how we may feel about ourselves at any given moment, it’s a glorious process to mold a flat character into a hero. Brave. Larger than life. A fictional being who (if we do our jobs correctly) will stand the test of time and live forever.
How do you write strong characters?
Make their life hell, then show them fighting all the way to the finish line.
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Author of Dead Witness, Broken But Not Dead , Break Time, and the e-book version of Dead Witness
blog –http://cluculzwriter.blogspot.com
webpage – www.joylenenowellbutler.com
Tweet: @cluculzwriter
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My favorite characters are definitely the ones who go through the fire. You have to put them through the worst so they can truly shine, and I always applaud authors who do.
Thanks so much, Crystal!
You really have to get up close and personal to know your characters. I am trying now to do that with my mc in my WIP. I think that’s called the character arc–changing through out the story. That’s what we do in life. We face the situations and grow like you have. Congrats on the anthology. I haven’t read steampunk but now I will. All the best!
Thanks so much, Janet. You rock!
Congrats to Joylene! It’s great to see her here. Thanks Juneta, for hosting. I appreciate this info – I’m still learning about creating strong characters so I’m a work in progress in that department. 🙂
It was a pleasure to host Joylene. She is a very savvy author, and as you said with great info. I think writing and the creation process is a life long learning arch. It is a good thing I love doing it, lol. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Thanks for visiting, Karen. I know what you mean. I feel like I’m still learning too. Have a great week.
Creating appealing character is so hard! I just keep adjusting mine until my CPs give me the OK. Thanks for all your comments about craft and sharing your experiences. 🙂
Thanks for visiting us today, Lexa. Your support means a lot.
‘we create heros who do what we can’t’ truer words were never spoken. Our heros may be flawed, but so are we. Maybe we’re trying to write our escape route?
I think you’re right, Sara. Escape route it is. At least that should keep us writing for the next 30 years.
Good article, Joylene. You’ve given me some good food for thought here. I have a character I’m not liking too much, so it’s a struggle to write her story. Clearly, I need to do a deeper character study.
Food for thoughts is great to hear, Joy. Thanks for visiting.
“How do you write strong characters? Make their life hell, then show them fighting all the way to the finish line.” I quite like this, Joylene. It’s so true.
Until recently I’d never heard of steampunk. I guess I lead a somewhat sheltered life. 😉 I’m kind of fascinated by it, though. (Steampunk, not my sheltered life. 😉 ) Congratulations on being a part of the anthology!
Now I’m going to check out Juneta’s blog!
Thanks for visiting, Laura, and for your kind words. Glad you found a new genre. Steampunk was fun to write.
I’m sorry it’s those losses that fuels your characters though, Joylene.
The loner seems so cliched, yet we all keep creating that kind of character. I think that’s because most people feel like a loner at some point.
So true, Alex. We all have to deal with our aloneness at some time. Thanks, eh.
I loved reading your thoughts on creating characters…I can definitely relate to how we use our characters and sometimes our plots to “fix” what we cannot in real life.
The first novel I wrote (but which I published fourth) was my catharsis for the sudden and violent death of my older brother. Working it out through my characters didn’t take away the pain, but it is now manageable.
Thanks for sharing.
No, it doesn’t really fix anything, except allowing us to get it out. Thank God we’re writers, eh .Thanks, Laurel.
Thanks so much for having me as your guest today, Juneta’s. It’s a great pleasure.
It is my pleasure to have you. Thank you for being my guest. I loved your story in Break Time. I have not had time to read the whole book, but I did read your story. Wonderful characterization. The twist made me smile. I did not see it coming, as it did.
Thanks for that, Juneta. I’m so happy you liked it.
I love Steampunk. It is one of the off shoots of genre, like Urban Fantasy that I have learned I really have a taste to read. I really like stuff that uses Native American characters and history. I loved how you used that.