Is it fate?

I told a story the other day at work about the birth of my middle child, my son. My sister-in-law and I were pregnant together. Come January 7, 1998, I went into the hospital in labor. I was 7 days late. After visiting me, my brother and his wife went home, only to come back to the hospital. She was in labor and she was 7 days early. I gave birth that day to my son. 7 hours and 16 mins. later, my sister-in-law gave birth to a son. They were born on my sister Beth's birthday. Also, there are 7 people in our family with 7 in their birthdays.



Was this fate?


I like to think that because of all of the 7's surrounding their birth, that there is something special in store for them. 7 is a special number. You find it mentioned in the Bible and in the Native American lore, 7 is lucky.


We should have bought a lucky 7 lottery ticket the night the boys were born, but didn't think of it then. On their 7th birthday, my sister-in-law and I went at 7 pm to buy a lucky 7 lottery ticket, but we didn't win anything. Oh well.


These are things we can never foretell in our futures. Some believe in fate and some think that we make our own destinies. I think there is a little bit of both. You never know what life has in store but what we do with it is up to us.

When we are writing, we create the fate that lands upon our characters. It is up to us to decide what happens to our characters and how they will handle it.


Are the H/H fated for each other? Is it in the stars for the hero to become a knight when he is not of a royal line? If a heroine travels back in time, is that her fate or is she just in the wrong place at the wrong time?


I think people want to believe in fate. To believe that there is a bigger plan in the world that will affect our lives.


What do you think? Do you believe in fate?

Character Arcs

Many times I have seen people talk about character arcs but had never received a clear answer as to what it is. So, I went in search of  the answer myself. To be a successful writer, I need to know everything I can about everything there is to know.

CHARACTER ARC is the process of getting a character from one point to another. To over come what ever obstacle it is that stands in the way of their HEA. (HEA means Happily Ever After).

Let's say you have a hero. He has been betrayed numerous times by his family and his ex-fiance. That's point A. What needs to happen to him to get him to be able to move past the hurt and betrayal to be able to find love again? Most likely in the arms of the heroine. That would be point B.

He has to learn to trust again. To believe that love is worth fighting for and that even if there are some bumps in the road, it will all work out in the end. We want the hero to feel and believe that no matter the outcome, the heroine is worth fighting for. And if he has been hurt and betrayed that is a long road to travel down.

With that said, it doesn't mean that the heroine has nothing to do. She has to prove herself. She had to help him build that trust by being a trusting kind of person herself. She must betray the qualities that will make him feel as if he can't live without her. And we all know, that sometimes the heroine comes with baggage of her own.

If the heroine has no problems and her goal is to win him over, then her jobs is going to be a whole lot easier than if a heroine came with problems. She will have to overcome her own as she is trying to help the hero overcome his.

As I work on my characters in my book, I need to outline their struggles and find the best way for them to deal with them and be able to move on. No easy task to do, I assure you. Each book will have different problems and different solutions.

Here we go..........