Wattpad Block Party - Winter Edition III

hepburnettes Presents: THE ART OF SINKING SHIPS

THE ART OF SINKING SHIPS

hepburnettes

wattpad winter block party 2017

So I was really glad to get the Valentine's Day post for this round's Block Party (all thanks to the amazing @KellyAnneBlount for making my dream come true). But then it became pressurising because people were asking me what kind of romantic post I was going to make for this romantic day, and they were like, "Noelle, are you going to write more smut???"

Yes. Yes, I am.

I'm just kidding. I did ruin Harry Potter for you though, didn't I?

Good. Now you'll be able to read Draconian, which you can find on my profile and -

Okay, wait, I digress. The thing is, writing a romantic post for Valentine's Day is really difficult, because contrary to all the romance trash I write, I'm not a very good person to celebrate Valentine's Day with. I even forgot about it a couple of times, but let's not go there. But anyway, I figured that since I'm crap at celebrating this romantic day, I'd do the exact opposite and give you the most un-romantic post I have to offer:

THE ART OF SINKING SHIPS

Because it's really an art. True story.

This is one of the questions I get the most when it comes to my novels. I could write a ten-chapter novella, or a fifty-chapter novel even, and decide to break the couple up. I could break them up at the end of the story, or in the spin-off, or come up with a sequel that effectively ships one of the characters with a totally new character.

I'm like the owner of the docks and everyday, I send out many ships to sea. The SS Kisla, the SS Decloise, the SS Marcy, so on and so forth. And somewhere out on the turbulent sea, there's a Lorelei out there (who's actually me in disguise) adamant on sinking those ships. At the end of the day, only one in every five ships remain intact. Then I send them out again when dawn breaks and even less of those return.

Sinking ships is like a bad breakup (I know - I'm so hopeless at Valentine's Day that I'm even writing a breakup post ON Valentine's Day). I mean, not just with your characters, but even with your readers and, more importantly, yourself. And here's how it works:

Disclaimer: Do note that the rest of this post is not an official guideline, but rather based on my personal experience with my own writing.

Step #1:

Realise the flaws.

Now this is super important. One of the biggest problems I see on Wattpad is that authors tend to get very attached to their characters. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it's a thin line. There's a difference between "oh I love my characters" and "SHUT UP THEY'RE PERFECT DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING MEAN ABOUT THEM YOU HOE!!!"

Yeah, don't ever do the latter. It is really not cool and makes you look like a three-year old at a toy store who wants a Barbie their parents won't let them get. Except three-year olds don't use the word hoe.

Try to look at your characters objectively. If you're a person who's introspective, that's really good. You can see your own flaws? Great. Now try seeing the ones in your characters (if you can't see any, that means your character is bordering on a mary sue / gary stu and baby, you've got to work on that).

Step #2:

Have things fall apart.

Once you've picked out the flaws, you're going to see something pretty cool. Some are deal-breakers. Others aren't. A guy who cheats? Oh, yeah, deal-breaker. A girl who's super spoilt? Hmm, maybe not. So it's like you're on the verge of breaking up. You put yourself in the characters' shoes and ask - is this something that's worth holding on to? Or should I end it once and for all?