Attach “attachments” to attract readers

Posted on August 13, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Attachment (dictionary meaning):  anything added or attached; affectionate regard or devotion.

In storytelling an “attachment” means things you add to a character to make them not only distinct but to possibly take away and thus challenge them.

An attachment is part of the plotting exercise, and can also be used in the sales wording for the novel’s back cover or inside jacket.

The attachment—when messed with—is also a handy tool to force change in a character and the trajectory of the story.

Attachments can entertain effectively. They draw in readers.

Example of attachments:  In the classic movie The Wizard of Oz the girl Dorothy has an aunt as her advisor/protector (attachment) who is lost when Dorothy is whisked up in the tornado. After she’s in Oz, Dorothy gains three helpful friends (attachments) but almost loses them, and later the Wicked Witch wants to take Dorothy’s dog (attachment from the start) and the new mysterious, magical ruby shoes (attached at a significant plot point). Dorothy is forced to change and grow when those attachments are threatened. We feel for her emotionally.

Attachments help us care about a character, even laugh, as in the dogs, cats, and other pets attached to protagonists in mystery novels and more. Those attachments show up on the cover on purpose—they draw readers.

A bland character might have few or no attachments, but can be improved when you add or change the attachments.

Attachments are planned and planted by wise authors.

A plot may sprout from characters with attachments. A plot may also be improved by revising with a new attachment.

Introduce a supportive best friend early, for example, who leaves before or at the Midpoint Crisis so we can see the protagonist shine on their own. The attachment was necessary in order for readers to witness your character suddenly cope without a buddy. We empathize with the loss of a friend or “going it alone.”

Effective stories strip away or mess with a character’s attachment(s) in order to make the character DESPERATE enough to make decisions, take ACTION, and GROW.

If a character or plot is too shallow or “thin,” add an attachment early on, revise, and see where it takes you.

If critique buddies aren’t connecting with your manuscript, experiment with an attachment or two.

If the publishing and producing worlds aren’t connecting with your character, think about how attachments can bring in needed layering—and fun for the audience. Superman got a dog, after all, in a recent movie.

Attachments are superb when they have “weight.”

Example:  Saying a character lives in a two-story house doesn’t have weight. You can’t sell that. Yawn for page one of your novel. Instead, what if your character reveals they saved for years to buy a historic house built by a famous mobster or poet? And they’ve lovingly restored it to its former beauty. Now the house has “weight” for readers. Losing that attachment would mean something to the character and readers.

How would you sell that scenario to an interviewer? Just give us the attachment info:  “After lovingly restoring a former mobster’s house for years, Fred discovers…(you fill in the blank).”

Dorothy in Oz had 1) a dog, 2) ruby shoes literally attached, and 3) various friends/mentors who helped her journey. We rooted for those attachments.

What are one to three significant things your character might be attached to that you can use to improve characterization and plot?

Attachments help you create a character that grows and a plot that wins readers.

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Sense of taste—sweet or sour, stand out & sell!

Posted on July 8, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

To fix a bland opening or beginning area of your novel or memoir, even a screenplay—try the sense of taste. You’ll stand out AND join authors who are selling well.

Most writers ignore sense of taste in opening pages—and that’s why it’ll help you.

We writers often focus on action. We also easily fill in colors, smells, and a sense of touch. What if after the tenth, twentieth, or second pass on your material you revise your beginning by including a significant taste sensation? How about trying the quick fix now, before you send out your new material the first time?

Readers REMEMBER tastes, flavors, and food. We gravitate toward taste, and that’s why it can work on pages one and two in particular. 

The sense of taste can be used anywhere within the manuscript. The Harry Potter series has Aunt Petunia’s “violet pudding,” and we know about the novel and movie with “fried green tomatoes.” How about “green eggs and ham”? Or “pickled limes” in Little Women?

Look at current authors using food for killer book sales in any genre.

In her suspense/thriller “Sean McPherson” series, Laurie Buchanan puts scrumptious food on the pages and table of her crime-fighter family.

In John Sandford’s Easy Prey, his first paragraph contains this line:  “He lay with his eyes closed, breathing across a tongue that tasted like burnt chicken feathers.” The writer means business. I’ll read on.

Harlan Coben’s The Boy From the Woods has this tasty material on page one of Chapter One:  “They threw things at her. Paper clips. Rubber bands. Flick snot from their noses. They put small pieces of paper in their mouths, wad the paper into wet balls, propel them in various ways at her.” Coben used our familiarity with the taste of paper to draw us in.

In The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman the mystery begins with Joyce at lunch having shepherd’s pie. We know instantly we’re in England.

Sometimes a certain food is the basis of something special within a plot, tying strands of action, time periods, and family members together. That’s the case with the well-received novel Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. Title your novel with food! It’s a draw! By page 15 we have this: 

“Black cake. Byron catches himself smiling. Ma and Dad used to share a slice of cake every year to mark their anniversary.”

The author goes on to describe more about that special cake, which ties together the novel’s beginning, middle, and end.

What about memoir and nonfiction? Food on page one sells there, too. Perhaps you’ve heard of the uber-popular nonfiction books by Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass. In her shorter book, The Serviceberry, she gets us right into “taste” on page one as a touchstone for how we live and improve our communities.

“They are all around me, Cedar Waxwings and Catbirds and a flash of Bluebird iridescence. I have never felt such a kinship to my namesake, Robin, as in this moment when we are both stuffing our mouths with berries and chortling with happiness.”

Food helps express all five senses. Some foods crackle; colors are vibrant or not; smells might be ambrosial, heavenly, or not; food textures in our hands or mouths may pull in readers, too.

The sense of “taste” makes us pay special attention.

Food references on your page one might lean on food history, recipes, politics, chefs, farmers, gardeners, other people, travel, places, culture, money, adversity, beauty, animals, seasons, surprises, and more.

What is your character’s favorite food? For an exercise, describe it through their POV on page one and add a twist.

Taste success with your delectable writing.

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Quick Fix:  Find a character’s “strength anchors”

Posted on June 2, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Effective characters deal in inner and outer strengths; the strengths ANCHOR a character’s abilities, actions, reactions, and emotional growth.

At least 5 types of strengths are in our toolbox:  Emotional (love, sympathy, etc.), Intellectual (ability to reason, learned qualities), Spiritual (connection to soul or inner refinement/pursuit), Physical (muscles, etc.), and Practical (habits or skills developed for repetitive chores or safety, etc.).

Strength Anchors

We writers spend a lot of time figuring out a character’s “Fatal Flaw” and what’s behind it but a good strength (or more) is needed to overcome the Fatal Flaw.

What I call “STRENGTH ANCHORS” create characters we want to follow.

An anchor is not a quick cliché, but a cliché can be turned into a good anchor if the writer explores it within the story.

Also, characters are not just one strength and one weakness (though one Fatal Flaw is enough for any story).

Think about the array of strengths your character might possess, and which one is needed most and when. Which one must ascend from being a minor strength to become a major one? Perhaps that one should be hinted at in the opening pages. Rudolph the reindeer, for example, showed us his shining beacon of a nose in the opening of the classic annual Christmas TV movie, but he was told it was a weakness and hid it. Then, in the end it finally became a major strength.

On page one readers have to relate somehow to your character. We often try to present trouble and show the “weakness” starting out. An alternative is to show a strength that matters to your plot later. Maybe it’s a strength that only we witness at first. Oh how fun it is for readers to share a secret with your character! That’s a hook.

What is your character’s method or power to RESIST strain, stress, and stupid stuff? That resistance is pretty much the dictionary definition of “strength.”

Donald Maass in Writing the Breakout Novel notes strengths create COMPELLING characters. “The characters will not engross readers unless they are out of the ordinary.”

In Story Fix, Larry Brooks suggests writing a better “ticking clock” to test your character. Panicked characters often reveal unusual or interesting strengths.

In The Plot Thickens, Noah Lukeman notes a writer should create STRONG CIRCUMSTANCES for a character to react to. Good examples are usually found in award-winning books.

Here’s a trick:  Create a stronger character using what I call “STACKING” of strengths. If we say things commonly occur in “threes,” try it for strengths to round out a character. “Stacking” makes characters surprising and interesting. No character has just one strength anchoring them.

Consider 12 ways to create “strength anchors” that matter:

– What did they learn from a past action?

– Pride fueled by a good memory of an event or accomplishment?

– Admiration for somebody and how they act?

– A meaningful symbol (the flag etc.)?

– A skill they have or decide to acquire? What motivates that?

– Do they experience an unexpected result after an action taken?

– Does another character leave a legacy your character wants to follow?

– What about an animal adding dimension?

– Perhaps they draw a special strength from nature? The land? Space?

– Strength from history and knowledge? A feeling of owing the past?

– Does a religion or belief system bring strength?

– What about a strength from the character’s younger years? Was that strength forgotten until now? Why?

Readers talk about strong characters. Get them talking about yours.

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Passion (by any definition) wins over gatekeepers & readers

Posted on May 12, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Literary agents, editors, producers, and readers look for “passion” in writing.

Agents rejecting a submission often say, “I just wasn’t passionate enough about your material.”

Solution? Take “passion” seriously. It means having a deep respect for something or someone, and also writing and storytelling.

Passion is evident from page one onward in bestsellers such as The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, or James by Percival Everett, or in nonfiction such as Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Many authors in your favorite genre write with true passion. What sets them apart? Vigor!

“Vigor” occurs by working on one more draft, whether it’s Draft 2 or 10. Vigor in verb choices, better action, and more meaningful dialogue and characterizations win over readers and agents every time.

Vigor means the author is vigorous in weeding out mistakes. No matter how skilled you are, it’s wise to hire a line editor before sending material into the world and especially before publishing it yourself.

Sloppiness cancels out vigor and passion.

The dictionary notes passion can be an “extravagant or strong fondness or enthusiasm for anything.”

How and why might we be enthused about your characters on page one? What’s fresh? And authentic? If your opener is ordinary or derivative of other books, change it and find your voice. Be you. Dredge into your own experiences, your childhood, your schooling or travels, or go exploring now and enjoy research.

Passion has its own type of special effects. A character’s personality must come through instantly.

Passion shows a character’s conviction about something but this is NOT about preaching, which can kill a manuscript.

We like characters that believe strongly in something or someone, even if they are wrong at first. Passion—however misguided—makes them interesting and sets up a mystery or at least a big quandary.

For an easy page-one rewrite, answer this:  What is it YOU (in memoir) or CHARACTER (in a novel) believe in strongly? Don’t save truths for the big middle blowup or the end. Passion makes us pay attention. Be evocative or provocative. Surprise us. (For examples read the opening pages of the books I mentioned.)

Another passion exercise:  Add a talent or expand your character’s talent.

Readers are interested in skills and talents or the lack thereof because we relate. The more relatable, the easier your sale. Let’s say your character never played guitar in your first draft. You never played guitar. Do a little research. Now have your character grousing on page one about their guitar lesson. How would that change things? A reader or agent will pay attention to your fresh, honest stuff.

It’s always fun in early pages to mess with a simple passion. Push it. Write outside your usual “box” or “lane.” Does your character love plants to excess? Have a neighbor’s dog break in and ruin them all, preferably within the first three pages. The literary agent will likely continue reading.

Can a passion turn into an obsession for a character? Yes. A positive can turn into a negative, depending on type of character and conditions. In general, “passion” is positive while obsession is more negative. But a character can be passionate about one thing and obsessed by another and still be loved, funny, strong or whatever you make them. Try the combo!

If writing with “passion” feels awkward, try starting with “enthusiasm.” Enthusiastic characters are more willing to act and speak with passion.

Passion will elevate your writing in an instant. Get passionate.

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Failures escalate a protagonist’s and writer’s popularity

Posted on April 2, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Readers like to see protagonists fail. Questions become how deep of a failure and how many failures?

Failure creates the tension of wondering how the character will recover and triumph. Failure is the birthplace of story.

We put ourselves into the protagonist’s role and learn from their experience with failure. Stories are about how to solve problems.

Any number of movies, novels, and memoirs show us the value of failure—it’s entertaining, enlightening, energizing, and an education.

“Impressive failures,” a term mentioned by scriptwriter Terry Rossio (co-writer, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.) and quoted widely, is about movie characters who try their best repeatedly through failure after failure until they reach their goal.

Moviegoers also loved the character of John Wick for his series of nonstop, high-energy, hand-to-hand “impressive failures” with bad guys. How many of us put our characters through a lot of broken glass windows or make them tumble down seemingly endless concrete staircases? Maybe it would help if we tried a version of that in our own projects!

Failure as a technique applies to all genres and literature for all ages.

How many failures are good within a single story?

That depends on type of story and length, but suggested principles may be helpful: 1) escalate failures, making things worse next time; 2) the “Rule of 3” works, so try at least three failures; however, popular movies and adult books stretch that to five, six, or more failures in an escalating fashion before the final triumph at the end.

If your project has been passed over or not reviewed well, could it be you don’t have enough failures illustrated? Could it be you have many scenes about failure but they don’t escalate in value or importance?

Writing a novel, screenplay, or memoir is hard: It’s definitely not a “one and done” when it comes to a protagonist (and antagonist) facing trouble and overcoming failures. In this case, failure is your key to success.

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