AND HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?

The other night I was catching up on my many saved TV programs (thank you Tivo) and in a show from “Hot in Cleveland,” one of the characters had started seeing a psychiatrist and was complaining that the shrink kept saying, “And how do you feel about that?” The character, played by Jane Leeves of "Frasier" fame, hated it... couldn’t stand him asking the question over and over. And she saw the shrink so frequently that, as the show went on, the line became hers. With every snafu that happened to one of the other women, she automatically responded, in her inimitable English accent, “And how do you feel about that?” 

A judicious use of repetition in comedy is a technique that works well, and yes, even though overdone, I laughed right on cue every time.

But what stuck in my mind the most was the line, “And how do you feel about that?” It’s a line I use all the time with my characters when I’m writing a novel. It’s a line I use all the time when critiquing and giving feedback to students in my novel writing classes at Bootcamp for Novelists. It’s a line I need to use (I was reminded) in the new book I’m writing.

My process when  I write a book is usually to get it all out there, madly writing in a flurry and not stopping to revise or embellish. What I end up with is mostly action and dialogue. Other than the overall tone and general feelings of the scene, there’s not a whole lot of emotion. So, when I go back to revise, I’m continually asking my characters, “And how do you feel about that?”

That question became my mantra when I was writing my current release, A SOLDIER’S SECRET. Natalia Sokoloff is hiding a secret. But she's not just hiding her secret from the public, she is also downplaying it in her own mind. Natalia, the Iraq war veteran heroine in A SOLDIER’S SECRET, has PTSD, but she’s a strong woman and she’s convinced herself she can handle it. If she can’t, she will lose everything she’s worked for. Her real conflict, though…her deeply held inner beliefs about herself…is what keeps her from admitting the truth. She can't handle it. Not alone.

Because of her strong beliefs, she's resistent to change, and it was like the proverbial metaphor of pulling teeth from a chicken to draw any emotion from her. Even as I was writing, Natalia kept telling me she just wasn’t feeling it...and I would say, “Oh, yes, you are. You just don’t know it.” In the end she came around, but she was a difficult character to portray. Yet... perhaps because I had to get so deeply into her head…know her so thoroughly…she became one of my favorite heroines. I was reminded that the deeper the hurt, the deeper it will be buried…and when the realization hits, it will be an emotionally powerful moment.

A SOLDIER’S SECRET is the last book set in Spirit Creek, Arizona.  I’ve spent a lot of time with three strong, yet vulnerable, women (each with her own story) for a while now and, sadly, it’s time to move on. I hate to say goodbye, but I have all these other fascinating characters on board…and all are waiting for me to ask, “And how do you feel about that?”

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One commenter will win his or her choice from the three Spirit Creek stories: THE MISTAKE SHE MADE, THE PROMISE HE MADE, or my current release, A SOLDIER’S SECRET. And how do you feel about tha--    Oops! Sorry. Force of habit. :-)

**Note: Writing about PTSD has made me even more aware that our soldiers returning from Iraq will be faced not only with this disorder, but also a host of other problems as a result of serving our country. They need our help. I am donating a portion of the proceeds from sales of A SOLDIER’S SECRET to the Wounded Warrior Project and encourage everyone to take a look and see what the WWP is doing to help our real life heroes. http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/