100 DAYS OF SUNLIGHT//GUEST POST & BLOG TOUR

Y’all, I am stoked to be sharing about this amazing book with y’all today! I got the amazing privilege to arc read this beauty and I can promise you that it is worth all the hype that it is getting. I will be posting my review later this month so keep your eyes open for that!

Abbie Emmons has been writing stories ever since she could hold a pencil. What started out as an intrinsic love for storytelling has turned into her lifelong passion. There’s nothing Abbie likes better than writing (and reading) stories that are both heartrending and humorous, with a touch of cute romance and a poignant streak of truth running through them. Abbie is also a YouTuber, singer/songwriter, blogger, traveler, filmmaker, big dreamer, and professional waffle-eater. When she’s not writing or dreaming up new stories, you can find her road-tripping to national parks or binge-watching BBC Masterpiece dramas in her cozy Vermont home with a cup of tea and her fluffy white lap dog, Pearl.

If you want to see Abbie in her element (ranting about stories) just type her name into YouTube and search.

Facebook – Instagram – Pinterest – YouTube – Goodreads – Website

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS BELIEVABLE AND REAL

Characters are the heart of every good story. If you’ve seen any of my writing videos, you’ve probably heard my say this a lot: story is not about what happens – it’s about how what happens affects and transforms the characters. That being said, how do we make our characters believable and real? How do we make them flawed, but perfectly lovable?

That’s what today’s post is all about. Before we begin, I just want to thank Abigail SO MUCH for letting me guest post on her blog today! I’m here talking about writing because my debut novel 100 Days of Sunlight comes out August 7th and I’m so excited to share it with you all.

Those who have already read 100 Days of Sunlight know that it is a very character-driven story. I advise that writers make all their stories character-driven, as that is what engages us about a story: the change taking place for a character, both internally and externally. So let’s dive into the techniques I personally use to make my characters feel more human and real – specifically, how to craft juicy internal conflict that will grab your reader’s attention and refuse to let it go.

THE 3 SECRET INGREDIENTS TO AMAZING INTERNAL CONFLICT

There are 3 secret ingredients to crafting a truly conflicted character. Now, we’ve all heard about conflict before — the nice little torture device we authors use to upend our characters’ lives and throw a monkey wrench into every situation. But there are two kinds of conflict: external conflict and internal conflict. What’s the difference? Here’s the rule of thumb:

External conflict is what happens. Internal conflict is why it matters.

External conflict is the plot, and internal conflict is the story. That’s why today internal conflict is what we’re going to develop — what happens on the inside of your characters is much more important than what happens in general. Because without a lens to see the “general” through, it’s not personal (and, therefore, not riveting.)

These 3 secret ingredients we’re going to talk about are the only things that make your external conflict (your plot) matter to the reader.

SECRET INGREDIENT #1: DESIRE

How is your character dissatisfied with their life?
What does your character believe will bring them true happiness or contentment?
What actionable step could they take to turn their dream into a reality?

This is your character’s desire, motivation, goal…and it will have the deciding vote in everything they do.

People are desire-driven. We all just want to be happy, right? Problem is, nobody knows the one-size-fits-all recipe for happiness. Which means your character is going to have to learn the hard way that their idea of “what will make me happy” is fundamentally flawed.

Why is it flawed? Because your character has to go on a journey and transform as a result of it. That transformation comes from a realization – an “aha moment” – that they were wrong all this time. But we’ll get to that in ingredient #3. First, you need a reason why your character is having a really hard time achieving their goal:

SECRET INGREDIENT #2: FEAR

DUN-DUN-DUNNN… Fear is the thing that stands in the way of your character going after their desire. It’s the thing that keeps them stuck where they are, feeling unhappy and dissatisfied with their life. But, more importantly, this fear is sparked from an event in their past that shook their beliefs and changed them forever.

So ask yourself:

How has my character’s fear kept them from taking action on their goal?
How do they think they can accomplish their goal while still steering clear of the thing they’re afraid of?
How does the inciting incident force them to make this first fear-based step towards their goal?

At this point you might be asking yourself: “Well, why does my character want what she wants? And why is she afraid of what she’s afraid of?”

That’s where the third ingredient comes in:

SECRET INGREDIENT #3: MISBELIEF

Let’s zoom back into your character’s past and witness a pivotal moment: the moment when their worldview changed for the worse. They made a decison in the “downloading” stage of their youth – they experienced a traumatic event and decided “this is how the world is.” Their fear and idea of happiness come together to create this belief, and it all started on this fateful day in their past.

What does your character go into this backstory scene believing and how are they surprised by the outcome?
How does your character struggle to hold onto their old beliefs?
What is their conclusion/new belief?

See, your character’s belief has to be messed up, because at the end of the story when they have their “aha moment”, another revelation dawns on them – and, at last, they see the real truth.

So go and write this pivotal moment as a scene! Write it as if it’s a part of your book — even if it never makes it into your actual novel manuscript. After that, write at least 3 more scenes (they can be short) where your character makes a decision based on their misbelief, further cementing it as a truth.

By this point, you should have some truly EPIC characters in the works — not to mention, a story so compelling and addictive, so relatable and heartfelt, so engrossing and riveting, it will belong on the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

Let’s talk.

Let’s talk characters!! Have you outlined your character profiles like this in the past? If not, I 10/10 recommend it going forward – it will seriously revolutionize the way you write characters forever.

If you want to dive deeper into my character outlining methods, check out this blog post and my YouTube channel, WritersLife Wednesdays.

Also check out my debut novel, 100 Days of Sunlight:

When 16-year-old poetry blogger Tessa Dickinson is involved in a car accident and loses her eyesight for 100 days, she feels like her whole world has been turned upside-down.

Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.

Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So he comes back. Again and again and again.

Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen.

100 Days of Sunlight is a poignant and heartfelt novel by author Abbie Emmons. If you like sweet contemporary romance and strong family themes then you’ll love this touching story of hope, healing, and getting back up when life knocks you down.

Goodreads – Amazon – Barnes & Noble

Thank you so much, Abbie, for this opportunity to share about your lovely book!! I am super excited to see where you go with this beauty.

Abigail