Good evening, writers.

As you may have noticed, I fell off the face of the blogsphere last week despite my promise to deliver the last three posts in my series. I have a long list of good excuses for this absence, but it comes down to one thing: I’m too busy. While I enjoy blogging, I can’t seem to do it half-heartedly, which means I can’t do it on the limited time schedule I have right now.

With that said, I wish you all the best of luck with your writing!

I’ll be responding to email on a limited basis. If you need to get in touch with me, see the ‘Contact Kate’ page.

Goodbye… for now,

Kate

Good morning, writers.

Yesterday we talked (well, I talked) about crafting original characters. Now that you’ve got some original main characters, it’s time to start creating the world they’ll inhabit for 300 plus pages. I’ll address setting and how to research it later. Here I’m more concerned with the pasts you attach to your characters and the people you surround them with.

Providing Depth Gives You Options

Creating complete histories for your characters early on in the writing process helps you identify what tools you’ll have at your disposal later when crafting the details of your plot and creating tension between your characters. Old grudges are stronger then new offenses. Childhood emotions can be less rational and more motivating than adult ones. Family relationships can have greater depth when they include histories full of battle scars and shared mistakes. Backstory can be a powerful tool for highlighting the character (as in integrity, attitude, etc.) of your characters.

Leave Some Question Marks In Your Support Cast

A consistent, varied supporting cast is, for me, one of the hallmarks of a great novel. Reading is in many ways an escape. It’s a chance to be someone else and experience their adventures. It’s also a chance to experience their relationships. I believe we were all made to be in relationship with others – friends, families, spouses, mentors, bosses. We are all surrounded by relationship. And books that embrace rich relationships give us insight into our own… or maybe a chance to escape our own? Either way, if you’ve ever found yourself grinning while reading the snappy dialogue between a group of best friends, you know that a support cast can provide a welcome relief to the tension in your story.

That said, what kinds of characters should be in your support cast? There are several mainstays – the best friend, the ex, the family, the coworker, etc. I’m sure you’re well aware of how to craft them as they’re in 99% of the books you read. Most of these standard characters are either affiliated with the good guys or the bad guys, right? I’m a fan of throwing a few extras in there that remain question-marks in the readers’ minds. Maybe they’re drawn between loyalties or just don’t want to get involved. It’s up to you. I like these guys to be hanging around, especially in suspense, because they provide a nice smokescreen for your real bad guy.

To wrap things up… I’ve been trying recall the best ’supporting’ characters I’ve read recently, which I’ll post sometime tomorrow.

As an aside, I’m getting ready to take the first section of the CPA exam on Thursday so if I suddenly disappear and fall off the schedule I set out yesterday, you can probably find me at starbucks with my face in a book and my hands shaking from too much caffeine. Hopefully I won’t do too much damage to my nervous system between now and Thursday afternoon when I take my exam. However, as of right now the plan is to remain on schedule.

Have a great day, everyone!

Good morning, writers.

This is the first of five posts this week, which will all explore different aspects of character development.

First, a brief overview of where we’re going:
Mon: Originality: Creating Characters Readers Love… And Haven’t Met Before
Tues: Creating Context: Backstory & Supporting Characters
Wed: Motivation a.k.a. How To Get Away With Murder
Thur: Trauma: Why It’s Good For Your Characters
Fri: Tension: Coordinating Your Characters to Energize Your Story

And now onto today’s topic… Originality: Creating Characters Readers Love… And Haven’t Met Before

Some writers claim their characters simply saunter into their heads fully formed and complete with families, childhoods, and friends. If these are original, vibrant characters that are going to do interesting things, then congratulations to those writers. However, as I’m not in that camp myself, I’m generally distrustful of any image or character that materializes in my mind and appears to be complete and ready to head on over to the New York Times Best Seller List.

Why? For me, these images are usually patchwork reproductions of favorite or interesting things I have read recently. If I just finished an intriguing thriller featuring a nerdy computer programmer turned charming super spy, you can bet that sometime next week a nerdy spy will try to charm his way into my current children’s book about a family of radioactive bunnies.

Let your reader fill in their favorite details.

Readers know what they like. Take me, for example. I like tall, dark, handsome and damaged. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a stereotype. Now, which of those characteristics do I rely on the writer to provide? Mainly the damaged element. All the writer has to do is make a vague reference to the fact that the hero is attractive and I fill in the details with my faves – blue eyes, black hair, about 6 feet tall… you get the idea.

Writers who belabor every surface detail limit the readers imaginative participation in the story. Instead, as a writer I focus on communicating the deeper characteristics that make my hero a unique, motivated, conflicted human being worth reading about for 300 pages.

Give specific, strategic details.

A well-placed, specific details can counter stereotypes and give your characters depth. You can use specific details to erase some of those traits the reader has automatically assigned to your character. This applies to your character’s physical, intellectual, and emotional facets.

Image courtesy of Big Grey Mare at flickr

For example, if you’re reading a story set in rural Colorado and the hero wears cowboy boots, this adds to the stereotypical image your working with until the writer tells you differently. However, if you’re reading a story set in New York and the hero walks in wearing cowboy boots, it brings up a question mark. Why is he wearing them? Is he from rural Colorado? Does he think they’re fashion forward? There has to be a story behind that. And you’re here to tell a story, right?

Consciously craft your character’s voice.

Each character should have a unique voice. This is especially important for your point of view character, but applies to some degree to every single person in your book. Even the stereotypical office assistant who shows up only briefly on page thirty-two and then again as a hostage on page ninety should speak, react, and act differently than other characters.

This can be subtle. Don’t give all your characters different accents. Unless, of course, your book is about a group of foreigners stuck in an elevator. Instead, think for a moment about your best friend. Pretend s/he wrote you a very brief note. Even if s/he didn’t sign it, you’d know it was from him/her, right? The word choice, sentence structure, and tone would act as a signature of sorts. Your characters, and especially your main characters, should have such ’signature’ elements the reader can associate with them.

Your point of view character(s) provide an additional opportunity for your to develop their voice. Unlike other characters in the novel, the reader can see how the point of view character observes others, the world, and himself. Does he judge others harshly or is he forgiving? Does he think highly or herself or is he self-deprecating? Does he approach life with a sense of humor or deadly seriousness? All are choices you can consciously make to create more interesting characters.

If you like writing exercises, I’ll leave you with a short one. Write down three stereotypical characters of your genre (e.g. rich playboy, female cop, cowboy). Write down the top five images/characteristics that come to mind for each. Now try mixing and matching a few of them. How does it change things?

For some additional fun (ahem, reading):

I’m new to using an RSS Feed and trying to figure out how to get the darn thing to display properly in the GoogleReader that I use. Currently my Google Reader will only display the first 200 characters or so of any given post, making people click through to view the whole thing. Not cool.

So ignore this post. Unless, of course, you have the magical answer to this problem. Then speak up.

Picture by joyseph

Does this work?

Or is this better?

Let’s find out!

Image courtesy of twon at flickr

Good evening, writers.

I just started a new job and today I had training. Lots and lots and lots of training. Software training, protocol training, legal training, and more. It has been a frustrating, draining, hectic day. So when I arrived home, all I wanted to do with the next five hours before bed was zone out to some Law & Order and eat junk for dinner. 

But that wouldn’t make me a writer; it would make me an accountant (ahem, the new job).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to enjoy my job. And being an accountant 8-14 hours a day (depending on the time of year) is just fine with me.

But that’s not all that I am. And every day of my life should reflect that.

“Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way… you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.” – Aristotle

So instead of sitting on the couch, I sat down and wrote down a few of the things I am. Newbie accountant. Passionate writer. Healthy, gorgeous woman. Loyal friend. Growing Christian. 

Then I wrote down different ways a person who was all of those things would spend five hours. 

This is what I came up with: 

• Accountant: This one I skipped because I’d clearly fulfilled that activity for the day with my 8 hours of training. 
• Writer: Write a blog post. Work on my WIP. Read some motivating writing blogs. Read a book; I’m currently in the middle of Harry Potter 3.
• Healthy, gorgeous woman: Cook a healthy dinner. Go rollerblading. Do some yoga. Clean my bathroom and kitchen; yes, cleaning burns calories. 
• Loyal friend: Write a letter to my friend who is getting married in a week. Call and check on my friend who is having health issues. 
• Growing Christian: Read my Bible; I’m currently reading my way through in chronological order. Spend some time in prayer. Take a minute to be grateful for the opportunities I have had today to live such a blessed life. 

These are NOT the things on my ‘to do’ list. They’re not obligations or things I have to accomplish before I can ‘relax.’ They are things I can do to make my insides match my outsides. By becoming more conscious of how what I do affects who I am, I give myself the opportunity to become less of a hypocrite and more like the person I aspire to be. These are the things I should enjoy doing with my time because they’re things the person I want to be would enjoy. 

So what does all of this have to do with writing? Everything. 

To be a writer, you have to write. Not just sometimes or every once in a while, but most of the time. Would I call myself an accountant if I just occasionally picked up a book on accounting or did one page of someone’s tax return? No. 

I’m not going to tell you that you have to write an hour a day or five days a week. Those are arbitrary goals, which are hard to motivate yourself to achieve. I want to give you goals that mean something to you.

Instead of time or page limits, I’d challenge you to go through the process I demonstrated above: 

1. Write down the 3-6 main things you want to truly BE. (Published writer, olympic gymnast, President of the United States, etc.)
2. Consider how you’re planning to spend your day. For each relatively large block of time, ask yourself how the activity you’re doing during that time relates to who you ARE because of that activity. Working as a mechanic? You’re a mechanic. Making your kids breakfast? You’re a parent. 
3. Are at last 2, but preferably 3 or 4 of the top things you identified in #1 on your list for today? If not, why? What is taking up your time but not contributing to your goals for yourself? Could those activities be streamlined, delegated, or eliminated all together? (My big ones are TV, TV, and TV…)
4. Now pretend you have no obligations except for work (if you’re employed) and rewrite your schedule for the day. Be conscious of adding activities specifically geared to correspond to your #1 goals. How is this different?
5. Now re-plan your day and use this information to make yourself the person you want to be. Or, in our case, the writer!

Good evening, writers.  

 

I hate writing exercises. Writing time is precious. I prefer to spend it working on my WIP rather than some random writing exercise that doesn’t relate to my story. 

With that said, when I recommend a writing exercise, it’s because I believe it IS worth your time. 

The two exercises discussed below are best used at very different points in the writing process, which is why I’ve paired them together. If you’re just starting a project, the Snowflake Method is definitely for you. On the other hand, if you’re deep into a project and looking for a more creative plot twist or character trait to bring an element to life, the Inquisitive Reader method is for you. The Snowflake is plot creation, while the Inquisitive Reader is plot development. 

And now, with no further ado, gather your ideas together and get ready to write.

Exercise #1: The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson 

Warning: Before you click over to Randy’s site, clear a block of time and prepare to be absorbed. Great advice from a great writer isn’t all that unusual, but Randy stands out from the pack. He takes great care to make his advice both concrete and immediately implementable and writers everywhere are grateful.

So what is the Snowflake Method? The basic idea is to start by writing a one-sentence hook for your book that captures the idea of it. Then from there you expand the sentence to a few paragraphs outlining the high points of the plot for your book. Things expand from there with Randy providing insight along the way. If you follow the process all the way through you’ll come away with a great one-sentence hook, a one page summary, and an extensive outline at the very least. These are great things to have later when you’re trying to put together a query letter for an agent. So if you’re just beginning your project, take a deep breath and head on over to Randy’s site for some power-writing. 

Exercise #2: The Iceberg Method by Captain Obvious

This method has been around since the first human baby grew into the first human two-year-old and started asking his parents “Why?” every three seconds.

I wrote a post on character development that touched briefly on this method. I called it the ‘Iceberg Method’ to convey the image of character development as a process of exploring what’s beneath the surface of the character – the 90% of the iceberg you can’t see.

The broader concept is that following the roots of the surface details (whether of a plot twist or character) can help you discover great details that make your story much more interesting. Sometimes I start this method with one idea about my plot and the details I find lead me to a different, more interesting conclusion. 

Here’s the example I used for developing characters:

Write out the physical description of your character (build, way of walking, eye color, scars, tattoos, etc.). Also write about how he talks (accent, word choice, etc.). This is the tip of the iceberg the world can see. Now go through each trait and ask yourself why. Why is he muscular? He works out. Why? Because his job demands it. Why? Because he does stunts. Why? Well, he always wanted to be like his father who did them. Why? Keep going. You get the idea.

Try to come up with really creative questions to your whys. This is actually a really quick and effective exercise. I usually set an arbitrary ‘why’ goal – e.g. answer twenty whys before I stop. That’ll get you pretty deep beneath the surface, but to each his own. Experiment with what works for you.

That’s all for tonight, friends. Happy writing.

Good evening, writers.

Picking up where we left off yesterday… One of the best burdens to surrender early on in writing is the idea that you must follow the established norms of your genre. It’s a sort of pay-to-play notion that most writers seem to carry around without really questioning. Well, today we’ll be questioning it. 

I want to start of by being very clear; I am not implying that breaking the rules will make your writing good or interesting. Working on your craft will accomplish that. What I am saying is that before you restrict yourself and your plot to the preconstructed outline of your genre, you owe it to yourself to carefully question each of the parts of the outline. 

Here are my 3 top reasons you should invest some time in questioning the rules of your genre.

1. Rules are usually no more than tried and true ways of entertaining the reader or getting them to engage emotionally with the story. What you should be more concerned about is what emotions your reader is craving. When a reader walks into the thriller section of the bookstore, they’re looking for something that’ll transport them to a different world full of shadows, adrenaline, danger, and betrayal. Are there ways of giving them those things without using the ’standard’ techniques of most popular thrillers? Yes. I’d go further and say you can probably think of a few ways to do it better than most popular thrillers. If you’re excellent. And you are, right? 

2. The iPhone Theory: aka your reader is craving the next truly new thing. Readers want to like books. They want to pay attention and be entertained. But predictability gets boring. They start thinking about their dry cleaning and whether they remembered to turn off the coffee maker or not. It’s kind of like the cute guy who lives on your floor. The first time you rode the elevator with him you were painfully aware of every detail about him. You were paying attention. But after a while the adrenaline stopped flowing, the butterflies left your stomach, and you stopped wearing stilettos to take out the recycling. When you’re in the elevator with him, you’re thinking about what kind of frozen dinner you’re going to heat up. Fettuccine alfredo or chicken parmesan? Then all of a sudden one day he grabs you and kisses you until your eyes cross. Then he lets you go and walks away. Okay, not you’re paying attention. You’re a little nervous. You’re not sure what he’s going to do next time you see him. Your novel should be the same way. Surprise us, delight us, and keep us a little off balance.   

3. Some of the most successful ‘genre’ novelists have colored outside the lines. See the examples below for confirmation of this theory. 

If these five reasons haven’t convinced you to question the rules, reading the following books just might. I’ve tried to hit a few genres so that if romance is your thing you can read a nontraditional, best-selling romance, but if you like thrillers you have an option too. SPOILER ALERT – If you haven’t read Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, DON’T READ THE LIST! I GIVE AWAY THE ENDING. Go read the book!

Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Author: J.K. Ward
Title: Lover Awakened
Genre Rule Broken: The male lead was sexually abused as a child and has both rage issues and a nasty fetish for pain. He actually threatens to kill several different women throughout the book. But Ward does such a superb job of crafting a backstory to explain and justify the way he interacts with the world that the reader roots for him anyway.

Genre: Romantic Suspense
Title: The Face of Deception
Author: Iris Johansen
Genre Rule Broken: There are two guys and one girl. The one she ends up with is not the one the reader wants her to. So basically, the wrong guy gets the girl. What? But wait, there’s a sequel… 

Genre: Teenage Wizard Super-Thriller
Title: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre Rule Broken: Our favorite boy hero dies. That’s right… he DIES. The hero. Dies. Biggest rule violation possible.  

That’s all for today, friends. Stop by tomorrow for a trick or two that can help you turn that spark of an idea in your head into a more extensive list of ideas. Basically these are some glorified, but effective, brainstorming techniques.

Good evening, writers.

I know, I know… this post is supposed to be about getting started not throwing out the trash. But to me the first thing you have to do to free your creativity is get rid of some of the junk we all carry around as writers. With this lighter load, we’re more able to float on the currents of creativity. 

So what is this junk? My top three are:

1. Fear that I am not creative enough to write anything original
2. Being immobilized by the sheer magnitude of the task that lies ahead – funneling and directing all my creative energy 
3. Misconceptions about the rigidity of the ‘requirements’ of the genre in which I have chosen to write

Good evening, writers.

When I first started this blog, I started an 11 week series designed to explore the writing process from brainstorming a new project to revising it and sending it off to an agent. Check out this post for my original description of the series.

After a heated internal debate, I’ve decided to pick the series back up. I’m currently starting a new project myself so this exploration of the writing process will parallel my own work nicely. More importantly, the topics I’ll cover are things we all struggle with on a daily basis in our writing. My goal, as always, is to inspire you to write, whether you’re a first time novelist or an experienced writer. 

Instead of jumping into the middle of the series, I’m starting back at the beginning. Luckily, the topics are broad and I’m confident I can find plenty to discuss and dissect in the few topics I already covered. 

Here’s the lineup: 

1. Getting Started: Fleshing Out Your Ideas
2. Character: Creating Vivid Personalities
3. Plot: The Architecture of Your Story
4. Setting: A Character In Its Own Right
5. Scenes: aka Legos
6. Platform: Yours, Not Your Story’s
7. Sentences: Nuts, Bolts, and Building Materials
8. Writing The First Draft
9. Letting It Rest
10. Revision
11. Shopping an Agent
12. Bonus – Waiting? Wrong Term

So tomorrow I’ll be discussing techniques for fleshing out ideas. The goal? To help you break the chains of proximity, cliche, and fear that can freeze any writer in place or be used to drag them down the road to mediocrity. Now go think about your ideas so you’ll have them ready for my exercise.

Image courtesy of striatic at flickr.com

Good evening, writers. 

As some of you may have picked up on, a week long hiatus turned into a year. I’ve spent the past year trying to keep up with life, graduating from college, getting my first job, finishing my first novel, starting my second novel, and moving twice. That said, I’m back and chomping at the bit to start on a regular blogging schedule again. 

For those of you who are new to the blog, the premise of the blog is this: You should be writing. 

What does that mean? The topic is writing, the posts are short, and the goal is to inspire you to act (ahem, write). 

I’m still working out if I’ll pick back up with the series I was working on or start something new. I’m currently leaning towards the former, but you’ll all find out along with me when I publish my next post on Monday.