TV Accents

I’m a huge fan of crime shows. I love getting into the heads of the criminals, and trying to see if I can figure it out for myself. Usually, I can’t solve the crime, and a lot of small details fly over my head, but I love watching it come together.

Another reason is because they bring in so many supporting characters. There’s always a new criminal, a new murder, which means a new list of suspects and family members. The other day, I was watching Criminal Minds, one of my favorite shows, and they were investigating a serial killer who was following migrant workers. The entire camp of workers was Spanish speaking, and several required a translator so that the agents could question them.

Then they questioned the suspect’s brother. He was an older man, Mexican, but as I was listening to the interrogation, something stuck out to me. The man’s accent was almost non-existent. Every once in a while, it would come out, but for the majority of the time, he spoke clearly, in full, English sentences, without hesitating, and with confidence.

Now, I’m not saying that that’s impossible, but I have several friends who are Latino. My hubby’s from Bolivia, and he still has a super thick accent, eight years after coming to the United States. And he speaks English fairly well. He’s almost got his bachelor’s degree, so he’s in an English speaking environment almost all of the time. Yet there are still times when I struggle to know what word he just said, and there are times when he doesn’t find the exact right word to express himself.

When he’s nervous, his accent gets even thicker. He struggles to think, just like anyone in a stressful environment. So for me, watching this Mexican immigrant, who lives in a purely Spanish speaking community, speaking full, completely, barely-accented sentences in a different language, while under investigation of the FIB, I didn’t believe it. 

I Like Secondary Characters

I’ve been a slacker when it comes to reading. I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. First, I’ve been trying to finish this revision of Hooked. Then I started a new job, and I took several vacations. And add to that, it’s just so pretty and nice outside! Oh, and I started binging Criminal Minds.

I decided to try and remedy that a few weeks ago by reading a book that was written by someone I know. I read about half of it, but the entire time, something just didn’t quite sit right with me. I kept trying to figure it out, but I wasn’t sure what it was. The main character was strong, determined, and definitely not waiting for anyone to make decisions for her. She had proper motivation, and I could root for her goals.

It took me several days before I realized it.

The character was in a bubble. There wasn’t a single secondary character for the first half of the book. And that’s about the spot where I decided to leave it. I just couldn’t relate with her. There was no one that she interacted with, and the only time there was another character was when she was fighting them while she was trying to get some magical ingredients.

I like secondary characters. They give me a better idea of the main character. I tend to fall on the side of too many secondary characters, but that’s because I can’t imagine living a life where you have no friends or family or coworkers.

An author I think does a really good job with secondary characters is Natalie Whipple. Her books always have multiple characters, and the main characters aren’t stuck with just one friend. They’re in a group of friends, like most teenagers are. Plus, her secondary characters bring so much more to the story. It’s not just about the main character anymore.

I like secondary characters. I know that sometimes we all feel alone on our journey, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. 

How Criminal Minds Improved My Writing

A few months ago, I noticed that a lot of my patients were all watching the same show. I only saw bits and pieces, and I didn’t really know what it was, but it looked interesting. Recently, my interests have kind of shifted from sitcom type shows to more criminal investigative shows.

Turns out the show was called Criminal Minds, and I found it on Netflix and started watching. I really love it, and I absorbed more than I thought I did. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, it’s about a group within the FBI that investigates serial killers, rapists and kidnappers by analyzing their behavior to determine what kind of person would commit that crime and why.

Several weeks ago, while revising Hooked, I was struggling with one of my main villains. To me, it seemed like he kept switching his personality, depending on who he was with, but it seemed within his character. Finally, I had that lightbulb moment.

My villain had the God-complex. And the only reason I knew that was because of Criminal Minds. I started to profile my villain, his background, and the reasons behind what he does and it started to make so much sense. Suddenly, I could write him without even questioning his motives, because not only did I understand the why behind it, but I also understood the psychological part, the stuff that even he didn’t know.

From now on out, I’m going to profile every one of my characters. It’s a fantastic way to determine what really makes them tick, and to put together their background, their family life, and their environment to put together a whole person, not just a villain. Someone who has a desire for something, or a need to be fulfilled.

I love it when random things in my life connect like that.

Captain America and Secondary Characters

A few weeks ago, hubby and I went to see Captain America. I was super excited, mostly because I’m almost always impressed by the way that Marvel makes things feel fresh, even when it’s a story almost identical to one we’ve already seen before.

The thing with this movie is that it had the chance of feeling like a sequel. It had that chance of feeling like it was just a filler, since it’s using all of the same characters that we’ve already seen. There was the fact that they were going to fight one another, but we’ve seen that before. They’re not known for getting along for very long.

I was pleasantly surprised, again.

I think the best thing about each additional movie is that they always add at least one or two more characters to the group. It changes the dynamics and makes us see them all in a new light. Honestly, the fight scene at the airport wouldn’t have been as entertaining if they’d all done this before. You have Ant Man and Spider Man trying to figure out how they fit into the group. In fact, the veterans take time to let Spider Man know that he’s doing it wrong.

Adding additional characters can be a double edged sword. You don’t want things to feel too stale, with the same characters over and over, but you also don’t want to overwhelm the audience with so many bodies that they can’t keep them all straight.

The biggest thing to remember is that each character needs to have a purpose. They can’t be there as a mere body, one to add to the battle, or to the body count. They need to have a reason to be there, one that matters to them. And they need to have some kind of relationship with your main characters. Otherwise, they’re in the wrong story. Secondary characters, just like main characters, need to be crafted with care, and given a personality and a reason for the audience to root for them.

My Top 5 Romance Pet Peeves

Hey all! It’s the week before February 14^th, which means love is in the air, right? Unfortunately, hubby and I are both pretty bad at celebrating holidays, and Valentine’s Day tends to be the forgotten one of the bunch. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy love.

Or love stories.

Recently, I’ve been on quite a Hallmark kick, which means I’ve been binging a lot of really bad romantic movies. Every time I watch one, I think about what I like, don’t like, so really… it’s research. The more I watch, the more trends I tend to see, and many of them irk me nonstop. Since we haven’t quite gotten to Valentine’s Day yet, I thought I’d list the top five annoying romance cliché’s I'm tired of.

1.       Instalove.

Seriously. I don’t know how else to say this. Whether it be by magic, or by true love or soul mates, for some reason, it’s acceptable to fall in love with someone, know you’re destined to be together forever (because said magic, soul mates, etc told you) and never really get to know the person. Hey, I’m all for love at first sight, and I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to get to know the person either. Everyone has a different background, different beliefs, and if you don’t talk about them, then your romance isn’t going to end up with that happily ever after.

2.       Lying.

This one irks me beyond belief. I know that during the third act, there needs to be something that keeps the lovers from being together, but when it’s a small matter of not communicating, it makes me want to scream. That’s what a good relationship is built on, communication. If you start lying to each other, no matter how ‘noble’ the reason, it’s still going to hurt the relationship. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I actually liked the movie version of Insurgent over the book version. They got rid of most of the lying and secret keeping between Four and Tris.

3.       Love for the sake of love.

I’m all for romance. Actually, I prefer having some sort of romance in a story, but to throw two characters together and tell the audience they’re in love because it moves the plot along doesn’t do it for me. Where’ the chemistry? There are so many stories where I honestly don’t understand why the characters are attracted to one another. Or why they want to be in a same room together. There’s no buildup, and it feels contrived. I’m looking at you, Black Widow and Hulk!

4.       Indecisiveness

This one kind of goes in with the love triangles. Obviously, we aren’t always aware of our feelings, but to be wishy washy for long periods of time makes me frustrated. Or leading someone on that you’re obviously not in love with because – drama! I think this is one of the reason why love triangles are so hated. Because they never last that long in real life. The reader, and the third character are going to feel cheated. Don’t drag it out for so long that your readers stop caring.

5.       The boring, no-good boyfriend.

Okay, where did this guy come from? For some reason, there are so many stories where the girl is stuck in a dead-end relationship with some guy who is either boring, doesn’t care about her interests and hobbies, or is too stuck in his own work to notice her. Of course, this leads to the main love interest to swoop in and save the day, showing her what real love is. How is it that it’s okay for a girl to settle for guys like this? Shouldn’t we be teaching younger girls not to settle? Maybe that’s what the romance is trying to tell us? Also, for some reason, it’s perfectly acceptable for the girl to choose the new guy. There was one movie in particular I’d been watching, where I was rooting for the boring guy to just dump her because she wasn’t being faithful to him, in any sense of the word.

So there you have it! My top five pet peeves with romance. What drives you insane? What trends do you wish would just stop?

And Then I Saw Her Face… Now I’m A Believer…

In the past, I’ve never really cared for character interviews. I couldn’t understand how knowing my character’s favorite food would help me know the deeper part of them. I focused more on what was the most influential moment(s) in their life and how did they react to that situation.

It was a good starting place, but I’ve since learned that it’s not everything.

For Commissioned, I decided to give character interviews a chance. At least try them out. When I got to questions like: What’s their favorite music, I still rolled my eyes. Does it matter? They’re living in a fantasy world with Asian influence. But since I’d decided to try it, I made up music they liked. 

Turns out, one of my characters played the flute… and that ended up becoming a major plot point in the story. I just hadn’t realized it yet.

It was helpful, but I didn’t realize how helpful until this week. After finishing revisions on Commissioned, I’ve been going through book 2, trying to figure out what went wrong. It took a few days, but I realized I was missing a vital character. So I did the same thing as before. I found a picture on Pinterest to give me inspiration and started the character interview.

Halfway through, I got to the question: What are her religious beliefs?

Character interview with Tsetseg Manda

The answer blew me away. I knew I was missing a major part of the climax to the third book, and she’s it. She’s the fodder that builds the emotional conflict for one of my characters. I just hadn’t realized it yet. And if I hadn’t done the character interview, I’m not sure I would have ever known.

So yes, I’m definitely converted! Character interviews make the character more than one dimensional, and even when the questions seem pointless or superficial, the answers may not be.

Trying Something New

Every year, I try and find a new way to challenge myself as a writer. This year, I wanted to try to write in first person. All of the other books that I’ve written have been in third person, except for the very first draft of Servant of an Empire. The reason I changed to third person was because it felt like every sentence started with the word I. It reminds me of the scene in Princess Diaries where she talks about how many stinkin’ times she uses the word ‘I.’

I was really nervous, especially since all my attempts at practicing it weren’t going so well. But I’d also spent much more time trying to get into my characters’ heads, so that I can really understand how they think, so that I can imitate the way they talk.

So the first day of NaNoWriMo, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. In fact, I was expecting to crash and burn. If not, the best case scenario would be a wooden, I-riddled first draft.

I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was I able to figure out a way to avoid the dreaded ‘I’, but I was also able to make clear and distinct voices. Or rather, Yaru and Nara were able to let their voices flow.

Remember, these are just first drafts, but here’s the difference:

The man huffed, slashing the sword from side to side, almost burying the blade into the wooden crate. If this idiot puts even a nick in the surface, I’d made him eat the Vor through his nostrils. “Not worth it,” he said. His voice was gruff, like sandpaper against stone, and his thick lips sneered down at me.

The parade stops as the monks congregate around the holy links, seeking the word of Gal. I snort. They should know better than to think that Gal would spend any time in this place. With the dust layering every building, and the stench of livestock, if I were a creator, I’d steer clear from this place. I’d probably spend my days floating across the sea’s foam or in the air, tumbling like… I don’t know, some kind of tumbling thing. A bird maybe.

I love both of them, but what I particularly love is how distinct they feel. I know which one is Yaru and which one is Nara. Now I’m excited to see how the rest of it develops.

How about the rest of you? How are your novels coming along?

Someone Has to Die

Outlining my story has been a blast this past month. It’s also been fascinating, since I’m letting my characters have a bigger say in their lives than I usually do. In fact, half of the time, I couldn’t finish the outline until I figured out who my characters truly are.

I was having a fairly major problem with my climax. I had two villains, and I wasn’t sure who the truly evil villain was. I knew one of them was responsible for the endemic, I wasn’t sure who. Then I worked on fleshing out my characters, figuring out what makes them tick, and their inner secrets. Once I did that, the climax started to come together.

The biggest surprise came when I worked on one of my secondary characters, the brother of my main character. I knew he was always there, he was supportive, got into my main character's schemes, but I didn’t know anything else about him.

Then I asked him his deepest secret.

Wow, was that an explosive question. Actually, with all of my characters. None of them wanted to tell me, but at the same time, once I found out their secret, I discovered more about then than I expected. This character had fallen in love with a girl and his father got rid of her because of it. Once I found out about the girl, I started exploring her storyline, and I discovered that she was in the story as well. She was a major part of the story, and I hadn’t even known who she was.

I fell in love with her almost immediately. She was cute, she was spunky, and she had a tragic backstory.

Just as soon as I decided I liked her, I discovered the next part of the plot. She dies. It was devastating. She didn’t deserve it. I searched for any other way to keep her from dying, but it kept circling back to the necessity of her death.

I’ve had a hard time killing off characters, and this is the first time that I knew it had to happen, to move the story forward.

How about the rest of you? Do you find it easy to kill of your characters?

Character Bios

I’ve been waiting for so long for November to start. To get myself through October, without starting any new projects, I’ve been working on prewriting. To say that I’ve done more for this book than any other would be an understatement. My Bible is filled. Background stories, setting, culture, maps, outlines, and yes, character bios.

When creating a character, I usually say that all I need to know is the most important event in their life so far and how it affected the character. I usually steered clear from the character questions and interviews because I never thought they were that relevant. I mean, I have characters living in a fantasy world trying to survive. Who cares what their favorite color is, right?

But since I have so much time, I figured I would actually try them out and see what happened. I went through multiple questions and picked the ones that I thought would apply the most to my characters, and yes, I left the question about favorite color in there. There were times that I really got stumped.

What kind of music does my character like to listen to? I have no idea.

What time do they go to bed or wake up? Does it matter?

Apparently, it does. I found out that one of my character loves to go stargazing, which means he stays up late to look at stars. I have another character who like silence, no noise, no music. Things I would not have known if I’d just focused on the most important aspect of their lives.

It doesn’t feel like I’ve gotten everything about the characters figured out, but there are small details that separates them from all of the other characters. It’s not a replacement, but I will definitely be using it in the future.

What do you do to build your characters? How do you get their backgrounds and personalities figured out?

Storyteller's Symposium

Last weekend, I was able to attend the first ever Storyteller’s Symposium in our little town. It was a fantastic event, and I was very impressed by the number of would be artists that appeared. What I really hadn’t expected was that the storytellers included all facets, including photography, writing, film, and everything in between.

 What I loved was that even though I’d heard most of the advice already, it didn’t mean that there wasn’t something new for me to learn. For the majority of the month, I’ve been working on prewriting and preparing for NaNoWriMo, which means that I’m going back to the beginning. It’s been a year since I’ve started a first draft, and I feel like I’m relearning and revising how I start out a novel.

Probably what makes this ‘novel’ so difficult is that it isn’t a novel. It’s shaping up to be a series, which means that there’s even more plot points, even more characters, and even more planning so that the story arch follows a clear trajectory from start to finish. I’d gotten about two thirds of the way through the rough outline when I got stuck. I needed a large and satisfying climax, but I still wasn’t sure who my actual antagonist was. Or if the two potentials were working together.

During the symposium, I was thinking about this issue, and there was one lesson that really stood out to me. One of the presenters talked about the Dramatic Structure, the need to have a clear protagonist and a clear antagonist, and to have the two confront one another during the climax. He also mentioned that if there are two protagonists, then they both need to be present during the conflict.

You’d think that would be obvious, but every single climax I’d run through hadn’t included one of my characters. She was just as important as the other, but somehow, I hadn’t thought to make sure she had a clear reason to be there as well.

Once I figured out that both protagonists needed to be present, the dynamics changed, and the plot opened up again.

How’s your prewriting going? Ready for November?

Plot, Character and Setting

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been gearing up for NaNoWriMo. Every year, I try and do something a little bit different, something to push me to try something new.

Last year, I wrote my first modern day novel with no fantasy, just actual family relations and dealing with the disease of Alzheimer’s. It was a learning experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. To see what I learned from that novel, check out the link here.

This year, when I started thinking about NaNoWriMo, back in April, I didn’t quite have a story in mind. I used Camp NaNoWriMo to create characters, hoping that at some point, one of them would jump out to me and ask me to write their story. Fortunately, even though it was a frustrating month (possibly because I don’t like spending a lot of time with strangers), I did have two characters whose stories started to meld together.

Last month, I started plotting out the story. It was exciting, the more I plotted, the more I learned about the story. It’s the closest I’ve come to pantsing. I’m not actually writing, but I’m letting the story flow out. The more I wrote, the more I learned about the world, about the situations the characters were in, about the setting. Unfortunately, I kept hitting walls. Moments when I didn’t know where the story was going.

This week, I put aside plotting and character development. I started working on the setting. Getting to know the world my characters were living in. I had to determine how different organizations work, both of my characters are deeply involved in their own systems, and apparently, the plot wouldn’t move forward unless I understood the setting.

Writing out the rules to the magic system

As I continued to build the setting, I suddenly understood my characters so much better. Once I understand their world, I was able to understand their thoughts, their reactions, and their motives. It’s amazing how plot, character, and setting are all so intertwined.

What preparations are you making for NaNoWriMo?

2 Month Countdown!

Today is September 1^st, which means 2 months until NaNoWriMo!

I am beyond excited. I love the comradery, the way that writers seem to pop out of the woodworks to participate. It’s so much fun to interact with writers of different stages and ages, get to see the whole spectrum from start to finish.

This year, in April, I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo. I decided to try to write character bios, one a day, and see what happens. Even though it was a frustrating exercise, I found that I started to have characters with stories that intertwined.

Two of those characters were Gastian and Torina. As I continued to think about their story, it kept growing. The extent of this story started to overwhelm me. There were so many different plot points I wanted to hit, so many quests, and characters that needed to be introduced. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there is a good chance that this won’t be just one book. This might be the first time I write a trilogy/series.

I’ve had this idea for several months now. I would add small pieces here and there, but the enormity of it overwhelmed me, and I was too afraid to try and plot it.

Finally, this week, after talking with my NaNoWriMo group, I decided to just get it done. As much as I love Scrivener, and the computer, I found that I couldn’t plan it out the way I wanted to. So back to pen and paper I went!

I labeled each of the main characters, and where they lived. Then I wrote out each of the ‘quests’ that they would need to complete. Brick wall again. I couldn’t figure out how to get them from one spot to the next. That’s when I drew a map.

It’s amazing how much can be accomplished with a map. Once I had it drawn, everything fell into place. I was able to draw out the plot points on the map, and all I had to do was figure out how they moved from one place to the next.

And when I got stuck, I worked on character development. I found that I was missing a very key character. I absolutely can’t wait to sink my teeth into him! He’s fantastic, and diabolical all at once. I also discovered some things about my main characters that hadn’t shown up in the 500 word character bio.

So far, I’ve only plotted about a third of the story, but the more I plot, the more excited I get. I’m having a hard time sleeping because these characters have taken over my brain.

How about the rest of you? Gearing up for NaNoWriMo? What are you plans for November?

Old Project/New Project

For the past few weeks, I’ve been very unfocused. Not in a bad way, but I haven’t been able to concentrate on one project long enough to really do anything effective.

This last week, I decided to read through the Orphans of Jadox, just for fun. It’s been quite a whole since I’ve really focused on it, almost 2 years, to be exact. Since then I’ve rewritten King’s Councilor three times, and written the Stone Mason and Jen’s story (still unnamed).

As I read through it I had a giant realization. The Orphans of Jadox is written in 2 different points of view: Larzo and Aydra. Yet, as I read, I realized that there was no distinction between voice. I’ve been reading a lot of reviews on different books, and that always seems to be the biggest complaint. If there are two different people, then they should talk differently, think differently.

So two days ago, I separated their points of view. I printed them out separately so that as I can focus on one point of view before moving to the other.  Larzo is a shapeshifter, a cat. He needs to focus on tactile senses: smell, sight, sound. Each small detail is heightened by his senses. Aydra, on the other hand, as I later found out in in The Stone Mason, has mild empathy, which her son inherits. So she focuses on emotions, reactions, feelings of those around her.

Right now, I’m working on Larzo’s point of view. It’s odd, focusing so much on details, the smells, the sounds, but I’m loving it. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I’m completely within someone else’s head. It’s quite fun, and now, when I go on my writer’s retreat next week, I have something definite and concrete to work on.

It’s also been quite a while since I’ve printed out my project, and working in a different medium has definitely got my creative juices flowing.

How about the rest of you? What are you working on right now?

Book Review: Rosehead by Ksenia Anske

I don’t normally do this. I love reading books, but I’ve never actually written a true review. But this book blew my mind.

I met Ksenia online through Google +. When she first published Rosehead, I put it on my to-read list. I knew that she was a very dedicated and enthusiastic writer, and I was excited for her and her achievement. But as it always happens, things started to get busy. It took me way too long to get to it, but last week, I finally did.

Since I’ve put so many books on my to-read shelf, I usually forget what they’re about. When I started Rosehead, I had no idea what to expect. And of everything I thought this book could be, it wasn’t.

Let’s start with the main characters. Ksenia created a thirteen year old girl with a large vocabulary. She’s struggling to fit in, and in more ways than most kids. I won’t spoil the story, but let’s say, I had a hard time deciding whether or not her world was upside down, or if she was just a kid imagining it all. Part of it had to do with her talking dog, and the crazy rose garden.

I think what really amazed me about this book was that I never knew what to expect. Whatever I thought would be the logical next step, Ksenia threw it onto its head and did the opposite. Or not even the opposite. It’s like choosing between right and left and deciding on up. That’s how the story went.

And it was a fantastic ride. I’ve told everyone I’ve seen in the past three days about the book. My neighbors are sick of me talking about it.

It’s well worth the read.

Insignificant Scenes

My neighbors have recently introduced me to the Marvel Universe. We’ve been working through all of the movies one by one, and I’ve loved it. One of things that has really amazed me is the story telling. Joss really doesn’t have a single insignificant scene.

It may not seem that way, there are random scenes that seem to pull out of the story, or reduce the tension, but every single scene is absolutely important to the scene.

We were watching Thor: The Dark World the other night, and there’s a scene where they spend several minutes dropping bottles, shoes and cans down a vortex that takes them to a completely different world. At the end of the scene, the intern drops their car keys down. It’s a hilarious scene, and the first time I watched it, that’s all I thought it was. A way to diffuse the tension, build comedy. But the second time I watched it, I realized there was a very important purpose to this insignificant scene.

Near the end of the movie, two of the characters are stranded. They have no way out, and then they find a vortex. One of the characters automatically knows that this vortex leads into her world. How? She sees cans and bottles… then shoes… and finally her keys. It’s a way to clue the audience into the significance of this one particular vortex, and where it leads. Otherwise, the audience might cry foul when they magically appear exactly where they want to go.

This is just one of the many, many examples found in the new Marvel movies. Every single scene, no matter how insignificant has a very vital part of the story.

When writing, I like to use Scrivener so that I can separate my scenes and figure out where I am. After watching the Marvel Movies, I’ve decided to go back through each scene and write the purpose. How does it move the story forward, and is it vital to the story?

How do you make sure that your stories don’t have non-vital fluff?

What’s In a Name?

I’ve been having a bit of a dilemma recently. At work, there’s a guy who’s been calling me Tiffany since we first met. Now, I would have corrected him, but at first, he would mumble “Hi Tiffany” while passing me in the hall, and usually, by the time I realize what he’s said, he’s already turned the corner. This went on for several weeks, and it’s not like I can correct him before he even greets me.

So basically, it’s been two or three months since he started calling me Tiffany, and by now, I just feel weird saying anything. Plus, I know he’s talking to me, so does it matter?

I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently, whether a name fits a person or not.

And as a writer, it’s even more important than in real life. Because when you have three characters named Andy, Andrea and Andre, it might get a little confusing. In fact, I had a beta tell me that all of my characters have two syllable names. Something I’ve never actually realized.

When I first started writing The Orphans of Jadox, I had three separate characters. I spent time and energy naming them, and I liked all of their names. When I started writing, when I finally got to a scene with all of them in it, I realized that their names are just too similar: Aydra, Emera, Emdra. It was the third one that really tied them together. So once I changed that, Aydra, Emera and Shara, it didn’t feel like I had Huey, Dewey, and Louie on the page.

Then when I was working on The King’s Councilor, I realized that all of my character’s names started with a C or a K: Cassie, Karvid, Kelso.

Now, when I’m planning a story, I write all my characters down next to each other so that I can double check what they look like together.

What kind of name traps do you find when you write?

Wait, what story is that?

Last night, I went to another group meeting for Camp NaNoWriMo. We meet above the local grocery store, and after we finished, I decided to get my sister and her roommates a dozen doughnuts. They just started a new semester this week, and I remember how that feels!

My sister and I started talking about my NaNoWriMo goals, and I told her about one of the stories that had evolved from my character bios.

As normal, I got very excited as I started talking about my story, and my writing, and my sister, having lived with me long enough, knew exactly what I was talking about. Her roommates on the other hand… they were thoroughly confused.

I guess it makes sense, once you start talking about characters in arranged marriages, sick queens and quests, it’s not exactly the normal, everyday conversation. Halfway through, one of her roommates asked, “Wait, what movie is this?”

That’s when I had to explain that it was just a story in my head. Probably my project for this November.

Once I finished explaining, all three of them got excited and told me that it was a story they would be happy to read.

That kind of enthusiasm and encouragement is often what a writer needs, especially when they’ve had a bit of a dry spell. I think changing projects also helped. I have enough character bios to form two or three stories. Now, it’s time to move onto another project. After deciding to switch last night, I was able to rewrite the first chapter of The Stone Mason.

So, as much fun as my first Camp NaNoWriMo project was, it’s time to work on bigger and better.

Wish me luck!

Camp Update

Two weeks ago, I was very positive about my camp goals.  500 word character bios? Easy!

Well, not so much.

Turns out, I get frustrated when I start to connect with a character, and then after 500 words, I have to say goodbye. Not necessarily a farewell forever, but enough that it’s starting to become a roadblock.  I don’t want to write the character bios because I don’t want to have to start all over again. I don’t want to have to stop.

That’s not a good thing. When my goals keep me from writing, I know that I’m not doing this right. I’ve written about eleven bios so far, but last week, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. The characters are starting to jump into one another’s bios.

As of now, I have two separate stories starting to develop, with characters finding common ground, and more importantly, common goals. There’s a few oddball characters that don’t fit, but I’m hoping that at some point, I figure out what their stories are. That way, I have more characters, more stories, and more writing to do!

I’m excited to see how the plots develop, especially since now I have the beginning stages of stories started. Maybe I’ll finish characters this week and start looking at plots.

It’s been an interesting experiment, trying to find ways to increase my productivity, and although I did run into a wall several times this month, I’m starting to see the results. Hopefully now I’ll have a new project for July’s Camp and for NaNoWriMo in November.

How about the rest of you? Any tips on promoting productivity?

Back From the Busy

I can’t believe how busy March was.  Isn’t March supposed to be the lamb?  Or the lion?  I’m not sure, but 2015 has definitely come into full swing, and it’s already racing toward December.  At least, that’s how it feels for me.

Yet, despite it all, I’m participating in Camp NaNoWriMo.  Even though I’m busy, one of the things that keeps me most grounded is writing.  Hopefully getting back into the habit will help balance my life.

Normally, for NaNoWriMo, or even Camp NaNoWriMo, I focus on finishing a book, or a draft, or some other big project.  This month, I’ve decided to do things a little differently. 

The Orphans of Jadox is finished and waiting for a query letter to be perfected.  In February, I finished another major revision of The King’s Councilor, and I want it to sit for a while.  The Stone Mason does need some tweaking, but nothing major enough to warrant Camp NaNoWriMo.  Servant of an Empire is being torn apart by Betas, and I’m trying to figure out a plot hole for Jen’s Story (still unnamed). 

So naturally, it’s time to start a new novel, right?

Except, for some reason, I haven’t had any juice.  There’s no plots pouring into my mind, there’s no characters begging for their stories to be told.

I started to panic at the end of last month because I didn’t have anything to work on! 

But then, inspiration struck. 

This month, I’m not writing a novel.  I’m writing a character introduction.  Every day in April, I’ll create a new character and try and figure out what their story is.  Why do we care about this person?  

To add to the challenge, each bio is no longer than 500 words.  (Okay, 510.) 

So far, the past three days have been an interesting experience.  It’s forcing me to write completely differently.  World building?  Thrown in there, only if necessary.  Other characters?  Meh, sometimes.  But I’m more focused on figuring out who the character is, and what they want.  That’s it.  Usually by the time I have that figured out, I’ve almost maxed out my word count.

I’ll try and keep you updated on how it goes!  So far, I’ve found two characters that have intrigued me somewhat.  (Day 1 was a disaster.)

What are the rest of you working on?

Whiny Girls?

On Sunday, I was talking to one of my cousins.  I enjoy talking to him about books because he’s the age group that most of my writing is geared toward.  It’s also interesting because he’s a boy, and so he has a different point of view.  He’s the one who recommended the Ascendance trilogy (I read the whole trilogy in a week).

I was trying to think of a book that he would enjoy, and I tried to recommend a few books that I’ve read recently, and he asked a question I didn’t expect.

Is the main character a boy or a girl?

Huh?  I know that I’ve read about boys not wanting to read books about girls, but I’d never actually experienced that before.  I told him that the main characters were girls, and he immediately dismissed the books.  Just because the main characters were girls.

His reasoning?  Girls in young adult books are ‘too whiny’. 

I’ve been thinking about what that means.  If it’s a young adult book, means the character is almost definitely a teenager.  How do you make a teenage girl realistic but not whiny?  Growing up, I feel like I was fairly whiny, and I felt the same way about my sisters.  Now that I’m not a teenager, it feels like they get whiner and whinier. 

Young adult books are about a character discovering who they are.  It’s less about the trials, and the overcoming, and more about determining how they fit in their world.  Growing up like that – it’s going to be rough, there’s going to be learning and overcoming.  And whining.  If there’s a character who never wonders what their purpose is, who never complains or has doubt, I don’t know that they would draw a reader in.  We want to read about someone with flaws.  Someone who isn’t perfect, who doesn’t have complete control of their lives.

But how do we create a character with flaws and doubts without turning off the male population?

Any thoughts?  Ideas?