Allison Brennan and Goofy Talk Motivation.
 
  Good morning, Allison! I'm so glad you could visit with us again. It's almost chilly enough to use the fireplace for a while.

Thanks to Mary and the gang for having me back here in my pink fuzzy slippers! (Actually, I have Goofy slippers – see?)

Oh, I like them! So cute! 

Goofy might be a little dim-witted, but he’s the eternal optimist and is the first to help his friends and strangers with their problem. His help might create more problems, but his heart is in the right place.

I think a lot about motivation when I write because motivation can change sentiment about a character from love to hate, from respect to despise. While we may wince at what happens to Goofy when his “help” puts him or others in jeopardy, or makes the situation worse, we appreciate him because we know he was helping out of the right motivation.

Consider a thief. On the surface, we don’t like thieves. They steal other people’s stuff for their own personal gain, often causing hardship for the victim. I’m sure many of us have been robbed, either something small (car radio—I’ve had three stolen in my lifetime) or large (our identity, for example, our every valuable item in our home. My credit card number has been taken I don’t know how many times, at least five, and while I file all the papers and get my money back through the bank’s fraud unit, think of the added costs we all pay in added fees because of the greed of others.)

But what if the thief was trying to right a wrong? Taking from a bad guy to give to the good guys? (Robin Hood anyone?) Or what if the thief needed the money to pay for his daughter’s operation? Or to steal a weapon that fell into the wrong hands? The act may in and of itself be wrong, and the character may need to face punishment for his crimes, but if we want readers to like the character, then we need to give them a motivation that readers understand and relate to. Especially if the character doing the bad thing is your hero or heroine.

Motivation for villains is just as important. I don’t like stereotypical villains who kill for the sake of killing, or rape blondes because his prostitute mother was a blonde. I want meat to their motivation – even if I don’t agree with it. Why do they do what they do? Are they conflicted? Why? Do they have remorse or are they a true sociopath? How do they justify their actions? I often give a workshop called the Villain’s Journey taken from a line in Christopher Vogler’s The Writers Journey: “The villain is the hero of his own journey.”

Yes, yes, yes. And because of that, I know that the villain’s motivation is just as important as any other character – in fact, more important because they are the foundation of any suspense novel.

 

In my indie romantic suspense, Murder in the River City, I have a heroine who isn’t a cop, she isn’t a P.I., she doesn’t have any training to stop bad guys. Already I had a problem because I didn’t want her to be Too Stupid To Live. (Aside: one of the reasons I rarely write female characters who aren’t in law enforcement is because I don’t think most women would dive head-first into dangerous situations unless they had the training and background for it.) Anyway, I had to make Shauna’s motivation for getting involved logical, in character, and responsible. Even though her involvement is going to, ultimately, put her in danger.

In my upcoming Lucy Kincaid thriller Stalked, I had a hard time with the villain’s motivation. It was one of the few books I’ve written without the villain’s POV, and therefore I didn’t have head-time for the reader to understand why he/she did what he/she did. The motivation had to be discovered by Lucy through investigation and research, and make sense to both Lucy and the reader in order for the FBI to find and stop the killer.

I’ve written stories where the villain elicited sympathy among readers. In Tempting Evil, Aaron Doherty had a truly sad upbringing, where his mother wanted a perfect son, and often left him with friends or family or even borderline strangers so she could live the life she wanted. When his grandparents wanted to be his legal guardians, she refused and took him away, never letting him go back to the only home he’d felt safe and loved. Yet, he was always trying to please her, to make her love him. None of this justifies his actions, but hopefully readers understand how he went from a loving little boy to an erotomaniac who created fantasies around real-life celebrities.

What are some strong motivations you’ve seen on television or read about in books? Weak motivations? Share your thoughts and I’m giving away a digital copy of my indie-published Murder in the River City to one lucky commenter!

Nightwalker

Heather Graham. Mira, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2637-3

Past and present converge in Las Vegas and ghost town Indigo, Nev., the site of a long-ago gunfight, in this engrossing paranormal romance from bestseller Graham (The Death Dealer). Just as Jessy Sparhawk, who's part Lakota Sioux, wins a bundle playing craps at the Vegas Sun, Tanner Green, a bodyguard for the owner of the casino where Jessy works as an entertainer, falls dead on top of her with a knife in his back. Dillon Wolf, a local PI who's part Paiute, and LVPD homicide detective Jerry Cheever soon have a second victim on their hands when a hit-and-run driver kills a Sun parking lot attendant who saw Tanner get out of a limo shortly before he collapsed on Jessy. Jessy and Dillon, both of whom are nightwalkers who can communicate with ghosts, must love and protect each other as another violent showdown approaches in Indigo. Graham's dependable romantic flourishes enhance this bewitching blend of Native American lore, ghostly shenanigans and modern-day chicanery. (Apr.)


When I asked Heather if she would blog for the PFS I was afraid she wouldn't want to. I am so grateful she agreed. Even with her busy schedule she still took the time to do an interview for us. Which to me is a very special favor from a very special person.

New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham, majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bar tending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages. She has written over 100 novels and has 60 million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times and more. Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken gulf region. She is also the founder of “The Slush Pile Players”, presenting something that’s almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

The complete Flynn Brothers Trilogy has been released Deadly Gift, Deadly Harvest, and Deadly Night. In 2009 readers can expect to see Nightwalker which will be available in April. Other books available in 2009 are Dust to Dust, July, Unhallowed Ground in October, Home in Time for Christmas in November and her first illustrated book There Be Dragons will be available for Christmas.

We welcome Heather Graham to our blog and we are proud to have her here.

On writing--obviously, no one has all the answers. Luck and timing play
into everything. But luck and timing can't occur if you're not
dedicated, and these are a few things I believe to be true.

The key to writing--read, read, read. Write the kind of book you love
to read. Never, never pick up a book and say,, "This was just awful! I
know I can write a book better than this." Find a wonderful book and
say, "This is the kind of keeper story that I'm going to write!"

Second key--attach butt to chair and keep it there. Don't believe in
blockages. The act of writing will give you things you never thought
you had.

Third key--put your story into circulation. No one can buy it if you
lock it in a drawer.

Fourth key--never stop learning, and never give up. Remember--Harry
Potter received well over twenty rejections. J.K. Rowling did not give
up.

Don't ever accept one opinion. Don't even accept twenty. Take realistic
and helpful criticism, but be true to yourself. You will never be able
to write anything that pleases the entire world. Be excited and
passionate yourself, and you'll get others excited as well. Have the
ability to find your own cliches.

Tell us about your books and a little about your life Heather.

I think my first book is in a drawer somewhere, or, with luck,I destroyed it. But it was a great tool. It did remind of the basic basics--you have to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. I now belong to at least five writing groups and I love my groups. When I started out, it was blindly. I had Writer's Digest Writer's Market--and I was desperate. I'd been juggling work--dinner theater and bartending to supplement the dinner theater--when it just all became too much with two toddlers and another on the way. I love the world I see around me now, because I didn't know what I was doing at all. I had one element in my favor--after years in the theater, I was damned good at rejection! I spent about two years sending manuscripts around before one was accepted. Once I'd written the one that was accepted, the company took others that had been rejected because they then believed I was capable of doing the rewrites they had done. One ironic note--my first book was a category Ecstasy for Dell. I had my sex scenes as kind of ala Gone With the Wind--up the stairway. They wanted revisions on that--it was supposed to be a sexy line.

Gone With the Wind--still one of my favorite books!

I read everything and my friends write in every genre, and so I read every genre
and non-fiction as well. Two of my all time favorite books are Killer Angels, Shaara's wonderful fictionalized account of the Civil War, and A Tale of Two Cities. The human conflict in both of these books is amazing and seriously touches heart and soul.

My family is wonderfully supportive. They love writing and writers, and they grew up with it all. Kids are funny, though. When he was in first grade, one of Derek's teachers asked him what his mother did for a living. He told her that I typed at home because no one would give me a job. He didn't quite get the concept of it at the time! And, of course, when I first started writing, my mother-in-law, who became my biggest fan, always said, "Good, you're not busy!" when I was working. Once I became published, she was like a bulldog, letting no one interrupt me. I seriously did
many books, though, with four small children in the room at the same time. Kids.
They might be noisy, but as long as I could see them and knew they were all right, that didn't matter. I'm grateful now. It's like Dr. Seuss--I can write in a car, in a bar, in the rain, on a train . . . well, you get the idea! I desperately wanted it to happen, and, I thank God, desperate enough that I didn't give up!

Free time--diving, ballroom dance, and getting it all together for some of the crazy things we do during the year. My latest project was working with a horror writer/guitarist friend on the numbers the Gory Ghouls will be doing at a party for the Stoker weekend. The kids who once made all the noise grew up to be great--Derek does web and design, Shayne does ballroom and now vocals, Jason vocals, Chynna anything on a stage, and Bryee anything I need help with! My indulgences on the tube
are Dexter, Burn Notice, and some of the Law and Order series, and some of the CSI series. Oh, and Cities of the Underworld. What stories that show gives rise to are amazing. After all, nothing is more unbelievable than real life!

Thank you Heather. Thanks for being one of the co-founders of The Florida Romance Writers, without which I would never have published my own book. Thanks for the workshops you give to us writers and the time you devote to your causes, like your work in New Orleans. Thanks for the elegance, dignity, and grace, you bring to the craft. Thanks for all of the books you wrote, that painted wonderful pictures for us with your words. Thanks for being an example that we can all follow.

Thanks for blogging with The Pink Fuzzy Slipper Writers, we loved it!

Heather's links:
Eheathergraham.com
Theoriginalheathergraham.com
Writersforneworleans.com
Heathergraham.tv