VARIANT by Robison Wells, THE LIMIT by Kristen Landon, and THE DROWNED CITIES by Paolo Bacigalupi.
Today, I wanted to talk about hope. Our characters need to have hope in our stories. Hope that they can overcome whatever is standing between them and what they want. Hope that good will win, love will triumph, and the truth will be uncovered.
When we build characters that have hope, it gives them drive. A way to keep going despite the odds against them.
I think as authors we need to have hope too. And sometimes it can be the hardest thing to grasp. It wisps like smoke, neither able to be caught or chased.
I'll admit that the hope I once felt has waned, and it's getting harder and harder for me to find. I want to locate it, breathe it in, re-experience what it feels like to hope for something worthwhile. So I'm going to be working on that this week, the same way we have to find it and give it to our characters.
How am I going to do that? I'm not sure exactly, but I'm hoping (ha!) to make the smoke solid.
What about you? Are you conscious of the hope you must give your characters? Do you have hope as an author?
Be sure to check out the SURRENDER tour stops today.
- Stasia Ward Kehoe -- Stunning Seconds interview
- Brittany's Fantasy -- Music That Inspired the Writing
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21 comments:
Oh, absolutely. I believe it's our hope (and therefore that of our characters) that helps us persevere during our darkest moments.
I wish we could bottle hope so it's there when we're struggling to find it.
Wow, you and I are sharing brain waves today. I posted about optimism and 100% know where you're coming from. Thanks for being honest and if I find the hope you're looking for, I'll lasso it and send it your way:)
Hope is such a great thing to have. It motivates and inspires. I think authors and their characters must have hope.
Hope is in us whether we are on top or in a dark pit. Hope has to be there in our characters too to push them on.
T
Definitely. I'm with Stina. *pass the bottle*
Hope renews us and I think it's defnitely a necessity for us and our characters. I hope you find your hope today!
I think hope is the whole reason for telling stories. We want to escape our lives for awhile, but reading about people we can relate to overcome their problems (especially in an awesome way!) helps us to recharge our batteries and go back to our own problems with renewed hope. Why write fiction if not to spread hope? :D
For me, the more behind-the-scenes 'stuff' I learn about the publishing industry, the harder it is to stay optimistic. Sigh.
Ah yes, hope! It is a bit elusive at times, isn't it. But i know you will find yours because it has always been there, deep inside, within your very cells. HUGS!
Your Never Surrender blogfest sure helped me catch hope. By reading so many stories about moving forward when people could have easily given up, I was filled with hope.
Our characters need hope, but yes, we as writers need it even more.
Hope is what keeps me going, but hard work is what will get me there... if ever!
I'd love one of those bottles of hope like Stina too. It's easier for me to have my characters have hope than me as a writer. Tell us how to capture it again please.
Hope is a necessity. One of the things I really loved about the book, Eragon, is that a new dragon rider breathed life into hope for a people that lingered at the precipice of total iron-clad rule. Despite the multiple obsacles faced by the young farm boy and his new dragon, he was hope made manifest, encouraging the will to stand up against oppression.
As you seek your hope, consider what provided you with hope originally. What is different now from then and that could help with infusing a robust hope in The Now for you.
Maybe losing hope is part of what writer's block is. We lose hope we're doing anything wonderful and worthwhile that matters very much to anyone. The only way I know to overcome that is to write anyway and find your way back to the story you began, in hope, to tell.
Like you, my hope wanes from day to day and even hour to hour, but luckily my family is there to give me lots of hope.
If the characters don't have hope, the readers won't keep reading.
I think with each step, I actually gain a little more hope.
This. Yes, this. Double sigh.
I haven't read the new Bacigalupi yet, but I'll still say: TOOL! For the win.
Reading a book without hope would be awful! We need to have hope for them. And we all have to dig deep for our own hope - sometimes it is HARD!
Cool idea for a blog tour topic! I think hope is one of the most important things in a book. It's dynamic - characters can lose it, or gain it. And it's emotional. It carries us as readers, and I always try to weave it through my WIP in a compelling way.
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