Guest Post: Author of STRENGTH, Carrie Butler

Ooooh goodie. I'm so excited to hand over today's blog post to Ms. Carrie Butler. Not only because I just loved her book Strength (review here), but because I get to incorporate all of her awesome graphics and that sexy cover! Plus, she's hilarious. As you might guess, so is her main character. Rena was constantly making me laugh out loud to myself as I was reading. So, I wanted to pick Carrie's brain and figure out how she went about writing such a funny (yet badass) character. Welcome to the blog Carrie!

5 Tips for Writing a Funny Main Character

Thank you for having me over, Jessica!

To prepare for this topic, I ventured into the shadowy place Mufasa warned us about in The Lion King—the place we, as authors, must never go. That's right. I read some of STRENGTH's reviews.

Thankfully, the mission was simple: Get in, (CTRL + F) search for the word "funny," copy a few excerpts, and then get out. No big deal, right? Wrong. My palms were sweating like the reviewers were all sitting around, eyeing me for a wire. I didn't think I was going to make it out of there alive!

But I did. So, after I had a nice assortment, I threw everything into a Wordle cloud. Now we can actually see into the minds of readers. What resonates with them? Where do their comments overlap? Why do they react the way they do?

Behold...

You know what this says to me? Humor must be character-driven. Thankfully, I have five conveniently prepared tips to help with that!

1.     Write a relatable character. May their actions be ever-human and their thought processes three-dimensional.

2.     Set a nice dynamic. Use supporting characters to (figuratively) open up your MC and show their playful side.

3.     Figure out what makes you laugh. If you're cracking up, it'll translate onto the page. Don't worry about the readers who don't share your sense of humor. At the end of the day, you're not writing for them.

4.     Play up contrasts, i.e. a mousy librarian with overly aggressive thoughts.

5.     Work on your timing. Get a little back-and-forth dialogue going, and then blindside the reader with something crazy. It's always fun to catch people off guard! ;)

About STRENGTH

Series: Mark of Nexus - Book 1
Publisher: Sapphire Star Publishing
Category: New Adult (NA)
Genre: Paranormal Romance (PNR)
Release Date: March 07, 2013
Formats: E-Book & Paperback
Paperback ISBN: 9781938404351
E-book ISBN: 9781938404368

Synopsis

When college student Rena Collins finds herself nose-to-chest with the campus outcast, she’s stunned. Wallace Blake is everything she’s ever wanted in a man—except he can’t touch her. His uncontrollable strength, a so-called gift from his bloodline, makes every interaction dangerous. And with a secret, supernatural war brewing among his kind, there’s no time to work it out. To keep Wallace in her life, Rena will have to risk a whole lot more than her heart.

Links

BOOK PAGE  |  GOODREADS  |  PUBLISHER  |  FACEBOOK  |  PINTEREST  |  BOOK TRAILER

About the Author

Carrie daydreamed her way through college—until they thrust a marketing degree into her hands, slapped a summa cum laude seal on the corner, and booted her out into a less-than-stellar job market. Instead of panicking at the prospect of unemployment, she used her Midwestern logic to steer into the skid and point her life in the direction she really wanted to go: writing out those daydreams.

Links

WEBSITE  |  BLOG  |  PUBLISHER  |  TWITTER  |  FACEBOOK  |  GOODREADS  |  GOOGLE+  |  LINKEDIN

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