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- Laurie Schnebly Campell
Laurie Schnebly Campell
Laurie Schnebly Campbell loves giving workshops for writer groups about "Psychology for Creating Characters," "Making Rejection WORK For You," "Building A Happy Relationship For Your Characters (And Yourself)" and other issues that draw on her background as a counseling therapist and romance writer. In fact, she chose her website (www.BookLaurie.com) so people would find it easy to Book Laurie for programs.
But giving workshops -- for students from London and Los Angeles to New Zealand and New York -- is just one of her interests. During weekdays, she writes and produces videos, brochures and commercials (some of which feature her voice) for a Phoenix advertising agency. For several years she would turn off her computer every day at five o'clock, wait thirty seconds, turn it on again and start writing romance.
It finally paid off. Her first novel was nominated by Romantic Times as the year's "Best First Series Romance," and her second beat out Nora Roberts for "Best Special Edition of the Year." But between those two successes came a three-year dry spell, during which Laurie discovered that selling a first book doesn't guarantee ongoing success.
"What got me through that period," she says, "was realizing that the real fun of writing a romance is the actual writing. Selling is wonderful, sure, but nothing compares to the absolute, primal joy of sitting at the computer and making a scene unfold and thinking 'Wow! Yes! This is great!'"
After six books for Special Edition, she turned her attention to writing non-fiction -- using her research into the nine personality types to help writers create plausible, likable people with realistic flaws. Her other favorite activities include playing with her husband and son, recording for the blind, counseling at a mental health center, traveling to Sedona (the Arizona red-rock town named for her great-grandmother, Sedona Schnebly) and working with other writers.
"People ask how I find time to do all that," Laurie says, "and I tell them it's easy. I never clean my house!"
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I never would've had the guts to write this if I hadn't just sold a book. I would've kept my shame and embarrassment to myself, figuring if I kept quiet maybe nobody would notice me and I wouldn't have to feel like an utter failure.But telling this to a friend who said "Gee, this is helpful to know" made me think that probably other writers could benefit from hearing what I discovered last week.
If it were up to me personally, I'd say external conflict isn't at ALL important, because what I enjoy are the characters' emotions. Their thoughts, their feelings, their inner turmoil. Who CARES about what they do in the physical world?But it's not up to me, and millions of readers DO care what they do. And if our characters are gonna be truly plausible people, they're absolutely gonna be doing things in real life. External conflict isn't about what they think and feel, so much as it is about what they do.
"I loved your book.""I really enjoyed your book."
"Your book was wonderful."
It's always a treat to hear comments like that. And whenever I read a wonderful book, I usually tell the author those same things. But now that I've heard some more specific comments, I realize what a difference the exact words make.
The book has to end happy.The last chapter has to end happy.
The others? They don't.
In fact, they shouldn't. Because a chapter that ends with everything happy is a great reason to put down the book with a sigh of contentment, turn out the light and go to sleep.
So how should a chapter end? For that matter, how should every scene end?
Whether or not you've hit that point yet, you know all about the expectations. We're not talking about the practicalities here�the questions of how (or whether) to deal with your publisher, agent, deadline and contract terms. What we're talking about here is the other part of what happens after the first sale.The emotional part.
Good and bad.
If you're having a hard time getting to know your characters, you might want to try putting on your Oprah Winfrey hat and interviewing them. Sitting down at the typewriter for a chat with your hero or heroine is a great way to get to know them. Just pretend you're the hero and type, "Hi, I'm Rhett Butler," and let him start talking. Once you slip into the hero's personality, it's easy to stay in character as long as the interviewer keeps asking questions.Ah, but there's the tricky part. Where are those questions coming from?
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