Story Structure - Floors (Persona)

Hi, folks, I'm continuing my series on story structure. Today, I'm going to share an analogy about floors.  A floor is the surface of a room where you stand. It's flat, low and static. The sure steady surface in your novel is your author persona. You are going to put flooring into every book you write so it makes sense to me that you understand it and lay it flat.

Persona is something no one says much but just like your characters on the page and your plot is on the page, you are on the page.  I'm not talking about "author intrusiveness"  which must be scrubbed out. This is the Voice -- a steady assurance from your inner diva, child, or chipmunk who is telling your story. I talked about this some in my post "author persona."

Make sure you have decent floor material. If you are victim, dang, it's going to leak into your book, unless you start building some inner chutzpah. If you are full of pride. Fail. If you are full of humility. Fail. If you are boring in real life you must find an inner persona who is not boring. I hope these thoughts are making you think about what is bleeding on the page. You know, this is what I think: put down the expensive stuff -- the best part of you.

You must cultivate the ability to be the same voice every time you dive into your story. I like this part of writing. I like tossing off all the ups and downs of me and the waves of this life that are pounding me into the shore. I feel the stuff of my everday life flowing away as I put on my alter-ego -- SuperScribe. Rock steady. Unchanging. Able to spin out stories that will capture the planet. Yes, I have fun when I am writing. I laugh my head off. I don't shy away from the glories of muhaha!. I let myself be larger than life.  I slip into this persona and let the words flow.  It's exciting and comforting at the same time. Sometime your writing persona just might help your real self grow and be better.

Well, that is a little chat. Put some solid flooring in your books.  It can be a rough floor or smooth as glass. I'm pretty sure that Gary Paulsen lays in dirt floors, but Gail Carson Levine places down an awesome kind of flooring imbued with magic sparkles.  Your floor will be unique, so don't try to Mark Twain, J. D. Salinger, or Harper Lee us. OK? Find the original you. See you next week with more on story structure.


Here is the doodle of the week: "Abstract Cat."

Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune.  Walt Whitman