~ Part One in the series is HERE ~

What’s the best way to make your characters real? Hm. Yep, I need to show you this first…

Literary character of the day: Tyler Durden from Fight Club

Why not start out by imagining them in your daily life? *Now you get the lit character reference, huh? Prepare yourself for crazy.*

(Tell no one you’re doing this, by the way. They’ll lock you up. And don’t judge me. I’m as sane as I need to be. )

This may be jumping the gun in the series, but I wanted to start with character development related to characters you already have in mind. So, this isn’t the very first step in the creation of your character. I’ll hit that topic more later.

Moving on… Pick a day and imagine your character is going to follow you around the entire time. Your character is only allowed to observe and give commentary. What would they say or think about the things you do or the places you go? Don’t do this on a day you stay home. Make sure you’re engaged in various activities.

For example, when you’re showering, how would your character act? My character, Mallory, would turn away and think cute remarks, but might not say them aloud. She’d also be thinking of Evan or about how water used to feel when she was alive. My character, Hayes? Dude, he’d talk crap about all the things in my medicine cabinet, but only after trying to peek around the curtain. I’d yell at him and he would respond with a cool and biting comment.

Don’t just have them make commentary on you. What would they say about your friends? What kind of people would they enjoy being around and who would make them nauseous?

How would they feel about your job, your political beliefs, or your taste in music? All of those details may not matter to you or your character, but there must be SOME topics that pertain to their plot or their interaction with other characters in the book.

When I was writing Mallory’s Story, I saw a band member’s name on an album I liked. Hays. I thought it should be spelled Hayes. I liked the name and decided Hayes would be my next main character. (There’s more to his name, but I’ll mention that tomorrow.)

Well, as soon as I had his name chosen, he started to hound me. For instance, I’d be driving while really trying to plot Mallory, when Hayes would pop to mind. I imagined him in the passenger seat of my car, annoying the crap out of me to write his story. He knew I had a starting place. I already had a scene for him in my head, related to a dream from a previous week.

I gave into temptation one night and wrote out the scene. The scene is now much different than the one I originally wrote, but his voice was already jumping off the page in my first draft. I wonder if he would have been like that if we hadn’t argued in the car for so many days before hand?

Mallory was different. I had to work for her voice. (More on her character development later in the week.)

My point is, how can you write a character that feels real if you aren’t even sure what they would do in real-life situations? You need an opinion of your character and — as schizo as it may sound — your character needs an opinion of you. And of life in general.

Need more help figuring out your character’s traits and opinions? Tune in tomorrow for Character Series, Part Three.

So, do you ever use this method for giving your characters more life?

Song of the day: Where is My Mind by The Pixies

Welcome to my week long Character Series! Get ready to focus each day on a new aspect of character development, writing tips and exercises included!  Think I’m joking?  NO!

Why is character development important enough to devote a week of my blogging time?  Well, if writers can be divided in camps of plot driven versus character driven stories, I’m DEFINITELY in the character driven group.

My characters are usually the first thing to come to me when writing a story.  Nathan Bransford  recently did a post where he mentioned his general belief that a story has to come before the characters. (But he did say how it’s all about balance and the characters are important as well.)  He also discussed whether the character or the writer should be in charge of the story.  It is a power struggle sometimes, isn’t it?

I have a different opinion on the order of story development, but it’s based solely on my own writing experience.  For me, characters come first and then they tell me their story next.  (I’ll go into more detail on this in the next post.)

I always know I love a book when I can imagine running into a character in real life.  If it’s natural to think I could pass them at a red light, minding their own fictional business, I know the author got it.  They brought that character to life in a way that leaves me affected by them even after the book is finished.

Why are characters so important?  To me, characters are the heartbeat of a story.  I will toss a book down without finishing it if the story doesn’t have good characters.  I don’t care how cool the plot is if I don’t even care who it’s happening to.

How do you know when an author has accomplished strong and memorable characters?  Do you have a favorite character of all time?  What comes first, plot or characters?

Check back every day this week for a new part to my character series.  I’ll be addressing topics like:

• characters in your daily life
• naming
• use of journaling and pictures
• talking out your characters
• non-related and hidden scenes

Literary character of the day: Atticus and Scout Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird.

Song of the day: This to Shall Pass by Ok Go (awesome, awesome video)

Just in case you have no idea what I’m talking about, I recently held  THIS CONTEST to give writers a chance to win THIS BOOK (The The 3 A.M. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley)  You can read all the entries in THIS POST.

Who were my judges? I will not reveal their names now or ever! Bwahahaha… Sorry, but I might use them again one day. I decided I didn’t want to judge them myself because I’d like to remain unbiased about my readers and writer friends.  So you can’t be mad at me if you aren’t winning the book!

I will admit I had one female and one male judge for the entries.  I also asked them to give me a pic to represent them in this post.  You’ll see those below.

About the book:  If you don’t win it, please purchase it at some point.  The 3 A.M. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley is a wonderful book on writing exercises.  This is the book that helped shape the first scene I ever wrote for my now 5th draft WIP. (Mallory’s Story)  I couldn’t recommend a better tool for people needing a boost in their writing, a way through a writing block, or something to inspire them.

Let’s get to the big announcement!

And the winner is..

!!!  AuburnAssassin (aka Claire Gillian) !!!

My judges did not speak to each other about the entries, and yet they BOTH picked lovely Claire as the winner. Congrats, Claire!  You can go here to read her entry. You will also see the comments from others on her story, if you go to the contest link I listed above.  (Oh, and here is a link to her blog!)

I asked my judges to tell me a tiny bit about why they chose the winner and to also pick two honorable mentions.  Their honorable mentions were entirely different.  Says something, doesn’t it?  You all entered very different and cool stories, making it hard to narrow down choices.

Let’s start with my female judge.

She said…

First place goes to AuburnAssassin.  I thought this was a really funny look at what could have caused such an odd business name.  And loved the twist! Clever!

Honorable mentions:

Kathleen- I could feel the old man’s desperation to capture the images and the importance in each click.  It makes me really want to know the backstory – how he got here, the definite stakes involved, why the angel is trying to stop him.  Great!

Soapdish- This one just drew me in.  I could feel and see everything that was being described.  It felt effortless, which is something I personally look for as a reader in terms of description.

Now for our male judge.

He said…

1st place goes to Auburn Assassin:

Off the charts on the fun scale and technically top-notch, this story was accessible, understandable and clever. Claire did a great little “shuck-and-jive” move that I appreciated just before the twist.  And the twist!   It played perfectly on my preconceptions and made me laugh out loud (and not a mere chuckle — this was a full-on guffaw)! Twist aside, Claire painted a layered scene with three unique characters — not an easy task in 250 words. This one is great on many levels, like a TV dramedy that is somehow simultaneously funny, truthful and meaningful, so it gets the win.

Madeline:

Awesome, awesome awesome — this story rendered itself in my imagination as two minutes from the 2nd act of a thrilling movie. I was hooked from the well executed in media res introduction to the decision at the end, and intrigued by the narrator’s shady motives. Madeline spent her 250 words wisely on a moment of choice for this “kid”, and left me wondering about all the right questions. What’s the hub? What are they after? Can I join?

BSB:

It only took one sentence for BSB to transport me into this fantastical world. Perhaps it’s the little girl’s point-of-view that does it — I’m still not sure — but this whole piece has a vibrant, sad, dream-like essence that is moving, even after multiple reads. I want to know more, but I’m a little afraid of what I’d find because there is clearly a darker, untold story here that the main character isn’t able to understand. It’s heart-breaking and beautiful.

Now for me!

What?  I don’t get a pic, too??  Here are the thoughts I had independently from the judges.

Anne- “The zombies didn’t want to hear it, either.”  Zombies. Yes.  That’s awesome.  I also liked, “He hoped their inside joke would crack her icy countenance, but she did not so much as blink.”  Also, kudos for being a writer that doesn’t hesitate, Ms. First-to-Enter.

Madeleine- “I growled and grabbed his lanky hair, making him look up.”  I liked that line the most. AND I know Madeleine enough to be surprised that she took her story in the direction that she did.  She thinks out of the box and is brave in her writing.

Kathleen- First favorite line wasn’t even in your story.  You wrote, “There was a pink link. I clicked it. It led to a very un-pink photo.” Loved it.  I love short, to the point sentences like,”Dropped cameras meant delays.”  I’m really interested in seeing where you might take this story if you had another 1,000 words to play with.

Erica- “Buddy where the hell ya been.” – Great. Just great. I also thought the summer teeth thing was funny.  But the worst part about yours? You don’t tell us where Buddy had been! (Ok, lie. That was the best part, but I still want to know the answer. )

Damien- “This is a game now. I have to pull the words from her mouth like taffy. She won’t give them up.” – Loved that. And I also really liked how you kept the story simple and relational, with natural sounding dialogue, but then you twist in a question.  A teaser.  :)

BSB- “Daddy never chimed. He was all tension and spring, but you’d never get a chime.” – Great lines. Very visual story while also showing us the relationships. You sucked me in with your phrasing and descriptions.

AuburnAssassin- “My sister had opinions as strong as the coffee she drank…” – Great line. And I also loved the twist ending. Very funny and smart.  It was strong and witty. (Congrats again!!)

Ryan- Award for shortest entry ever.

Lorena- “There were two men sitting at the other end of the mahogany table—Citizen Kane style.” -This is a nice reference and good imagery. I liked that you had her clam up, rather than do the expected winning pitch at the end.

Amna- “Love didn’t taste sweet. Love didn’t smell great.” – Way to bring in the senses in your description.  I like how you thought out of the box and clearly started to see these character’s scenario with just a photo prompt.

Soapdish- “Jenny was greeted by distorted calliope music at the entrance to the fairgrounds, where a middle aged woman, with a bad perm and a cigarette dangling from cracked lips grabbed her arm and forced a red stamp on the underside of her wrist.” – Yep, you painted that picture very well. I think you had one of the more abstract pictures and I’m excited to see how well you did with such a prompt.

Julie- “…I knew he appreciated the art of making movies.”-  Lol Ok, NOT where I expected this picture to go.  I love these story prompt examples where you can see how two totally different scenarios and stories are able to come out of the same picture.  ”…comb the hood for that gray-haired hooligan and his camera full of nasties.”- Good line.

Mercedes- “He smiled, and felt the beautiful crescent smile as well. He began to row.” – Very mystical and lovely. Where did he row??  ”He wanted to lick it up and take tiny nibbles…” – Great description in this line.

Heidi- Another with the more abstract photo. I think those are the most fun pics, really. “The arms he’d wrapped me in had felt like my own. So connected.”- Good lines. “Like blueberries with fur, he’d said…”- I see the imagery and the emotions in this.

To all of you, I want to say THANK YOU for making my first contest an awesome one!!!  You all rock!

I’m hoping all participating writers were able to enjoy the prompts and the process of writing their entry.  I will host another contest in the future and I hope you come back to play again.

*Claire- What’s your address so I can mail you the book?  Email me!*

Don’t forget the contest!

*Going to bed soon, but if you’re in a different time zone and get one in while I’m sleeping I won’t exclude you! Winner announced tomorrow night!*

I don’t want to take up too much of your time, since I’d rather you were reading the entries I’ve gotten so far for my Images to Words Contest!  Really.  They’re awesome and still trickling in.  From what I’ve heard, I should expect another couple very soon.  Deadline is Saturday at midnight, peeps! (What?  Have no idea what I’m talking about? Go to contest here.)

So! Since I’m making this short again, I’m just going to give you a little writers’ quiz…

If you answer YES to 7 out of 10 questions below, CONGRATS… You’re a writer. (Or a writer very similar to myself.)

1. Do you often lose sleep obsessing over the new scene that popped into your head that day?
2. Do those fictional characters become so real to you that they could be your BFF, even if you dislike them?
3. Does it make you antsy to do things like sit through an entire movie at the theater?  You’re adding up the time it took to drive there, sit through previews, watch the movie, and drive home… all that time wasted where you could be writing. *Movie example could be interchanged with another form of “fun”.
4. Do you sometimes have arguments in your head with your character? (Ex. “No, Hayes! Mallory still needs edits!  I can’t write about you right now! Back off!”)
5. Do you rotate between forgetting to eat or eating massive quantities of junk while staring at the computer?
6. Do you hate the question, “What’s your book about?” (Because you can’t sum it up in a synopsis yet, much less a sentence in conversation.)
7. Are calm and peaceful days suddenly interrupted by the fear you may never write a decent story in your life?  You know, the days where the car commercial seemed to have a better opener than your book?  The Am-I-Crazy days.
8. Is “Show, Don’t Tell” the eleventh commandment in your home?
9. Do you feel a special bond to a specific font?
10. Does your computer and/or notebook feel like another appendage on your body?

This is the list I came up with off the top of my head. Maybe I’m off base and weird.  Am I?  What was your score?  What would you add to the quiz?

Song of the day: To Go Home by M. Ward

Hi. I’m tired.  Sigh. It’s been a long week already.  I’ll make this post short like the last.  Here is a mini-blog breakdown.

Erica Chapman (the lovely and talented lady I’m doing a beta read for) featured me on her blog yesterday! Woot!  How sweet!  Here is the link for the post.  She says insanely nice things about me.  Even if they’re lies, I’ll let her keep them up.  Thank you Erica!

(Side note: I plan to start my only ritual of featuring writers on my blog.  I’m working out the kinks in my plan, but look for those to start up soon!)

I’m too tired to entertain you guys today.  Anyway, I’m NOT your monkey.  Jeez.  So I thought I’d let my eclectic music tastes entertain you.  If you don’t like this song, you can at least appreciate the insanity of the video.

That’s all I’ve got today.  *shrug*

Oh! No it isn’t! You want awesomeness? Have you heard about my contest? Go read the entries I’ve gotten so far for my Images to Words Contest! Then enter something yourself! The contest ends Saturday at midnight.

Ok, THAT is all I’ve got for you today.  Have a wonderful Tuesday!

I’ve written some pretty big posts lately, so I’m keeping this simple.

What does it mean to write with confidence?

I know this is one of those huge Do’s in writing.  We’re supposed to write with confidence.  But what does that really mean and how do you know if you’re accomplishing it?  Can we discuss this in the comments, please?

Oh, and don’t forget to enter my contest for a chance to win The 3 A.M. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley.  The deadline is March 6th!!

Can we recap the most important thing from my last blog post about inspiration?  It’s my contest, of course!!

What does the image below say to you?

*My friend Cole Alpaugh (wonderful writer and photographer) took that shot and agreed to let me post it.*

Think you could come up with 250 words from looking at that image?  You don’t have to be literal and write about the people in the picture.  Maybe the tone of the image triggers something in you.  Jeez, that facial expression alone…

Or maybe you’d like to try another one?

Pick a link below (yes, they all go somewhere different) and try to write 250 words inspired by the image in that link.

LINK

link

LiNk

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LINk

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LINK

link

LiNk

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Images to Words Contest Rules: You have a choice.  Use Cole’s pic, which is already displayed, or take your chances on one of my many links.  If you don’t use his picture, the link you choose is the one you write about.  Use it to inspire you.  Max 250 words.  No minimum.  Then, post your writing in a comment over here.  Just so you aren’t confused about that, I’m closing comments on this post.  Cause (again) you post your entry in the comments HERE.  Deadline is one week, so get it in by midnight on March 6th!

And who will judge? I’ll have a couple of writer friends refrain from entering so they can help!  That way the decision won’t be biased!

What do you win? I’m willing to buy and ship you one of my favorite books for inspiration and prompts.

The 3 A.M. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley

Okay, let’s stop the rants and continue on with the more writing related topics.

INSPIRATION

Have you gotten stuck in your writing?  Felt like you had no place to start, but knew you should write SOMETHING to keep up the habit?  Let me give you some ideas and cool links for prompts, inspiration, or exercises to get your brain moving towards writing again!

Espresso Stories is a website that boasts “complete stories that take no longer to read than an espresso takes to slurp.”  If you look through their submissions, you may find a sentence that hits a nerve.  Maybe you’ll find a story prompt from this or this.  I mean, imagine how you could expand on those sentences.  Do you see the characters already in this?  Is the scene or plot already beginning to take hold when you read something on that site?  Then write.  Don’t plan.  Don’t think about it longer than the time it takes you to pull out that pen or open that file.

The Brainstormer is another fun link.  Have I given it to you before?  If so, this will be a reminder.  Click the random button in the center.  No, really.  The button in the center that says random.  Take those three words and try to write 300 more based on that prompt.  Don’t like the first choices it gives?  Hit it again until something stands out.  But limit yourself so you aren’t hitting it all day.  Best out of three, maybe?  I got… odd couple, small town, and tank.  Hm.

Cemeteries.  Yes.  I’m not kidding.  My very first experience with story prompting was unintentional when I was a kid. I lived close to a cemetery and I LOVED taking walks in it.  Yes, I was a strange person.  Still am.  My point?  Go for a walk in a cemetery and get inspiration.  If the silence and peace don’t help you, the names on the gravestones sure will.  Maybe you won’t find interesting headstones like these.  (I sure didn’t.)  But pay attention to names, dates, and especially names of people related to other people.  Sally Jones 1890 is just a few feet away from Tim Smith 1887.  Did they know each other?  How?  *Am I making sense or talking crazy now?*

Need something more obvious?  Go generate a plot.

Maybe you need even more obvious writing tips?  Try these 13 from Chuck Palahniuk. And here are five editor secrets for writing.

Images can also do amazing things for inspiration.  This is another trick I actually use a lot because I’m a very visual person.  Even NPR is holding a contest using this concept.

Want to spice up your visual writing prompts? Check out this website.  Yeah, second morbid sounding thing in this post.  Sorry.  But take a look.  Click the info link to read what the project is and then scroll around.  Do any of those faces inspire a new character for you?

As if I didn’t give you enough suggestions…

What does this image below say to you?  You don’t have to be literal and write about the people in the images.  Maybe the tone of the picture triggers something.  Jeez, that facial expression alone…

*My friend Cole Alpaugh (wonderful writer and photographer) took that shot and agreed to let me post it.*

Want to do more picture prompts?  Hey, why not make it a game?

Pick a link below (yes they all go somewhere different) and try to write 250 words inspired by the image in that link.

LINK

link

LiNk

lInK

LINk

LiNK

LINK

link

LiNk

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Oh, wait!  Shiny new idea!! Let’s make this a CONTEST! Really!  I’ve never done one.

Rules: You have a choice.  Use Cole’s pic, which is already displayed, or take your chances on one of my many links.  If you don’t use his picture, the link you choose is the one you have to write about.  Use it to inspire you.  Max 250 words.  No minimum.  Then, post your writing in a comment here.  Deadline is one week, so get it in by midnight on March 6th!

And who will judge? I’ll have a couple of writer friends refrain from entering so they can help!  That way the decision won’t be biased!

What do you win? I’m willing to buy and ship you one of my favorite books for inspiration and prompts.

The 3 A.M. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley

*And now I’m scared no one will enter.  Heck, I’ve never done a contest and never entered many blog contests myself.  I REALLY hope SOMEONE does this. (Whimpers while hitting publish.)

Um, so. You should all know that when I rant, it’s just me ranting. Once rant is over, I’m good. I don’t dwell or freak if I’m unhappy with a tweet. Or if Wordpress gets stupid on me  :D

I had a long and stressful week at work and it helped to rant twice on my blog about pet peeves.  I did get some GREAT feedback and wonderful comments nodding along with some of my points… But I think I should have used more smileys to show I’m not actually PISSED.  Really.  Pet peeves, not shooting spree material, folks!

That is all.  Another blog coming SOON related to inspiration and writing goals.