Creating Characters: A Five Part Series

Photopin: M Harrsch

I am starting a  5 part series dedicated to Characters and what we love about them.  I hope to offer some assistance to writers who are devoting time to the mechanics of their writing.  Think about the last book or story you read. What made that character memorable to you? As an aspiring historical fiction novelist and avid reader of the genre, the writing of the character is what differentiates a world I can become absorbed in versus a plain historical textbook.  

I completed NaNoWriMo in 2011 with no guide other than the few wonderful blogs I follow and of course Larry Brooks and his awe inspiring website,  StoryFix.com.  Larry’s website and a supportive NaNo  group kept me going through that long November.   After reading the unstructured mess that had spilled into the writing program I endeavored to master, I knew I clearly had more work to do to ever come close to producing a cohesive story which a reader could enjoy.  My verbal stories have followed me for several years and along the way were pleas from friends of “You must write this story. I really want to know what happens to these people!” For these patient friends, I am determined to tell the stories of a civil war soldier, a depression era waitress and a forlorn prince in a foreign country. Three different books, three very different characters and I am determined to convey each one onto paper.

The reference books I will be using for this series are:

Writing the Breakout Novel by  Donald Maas

Growing Great Characters from The Ground up by Martha Engber

Characters, Emotons and Viewpoints by Nancy Kress

The Dramatic Writer’s Companion by Will Dunne

Crafting Unforgettable Charafters by K.M. Weiland (sign up for her newsletter and get this nifty booklet for FREE)

and of course, the great seven part series by Larry Brooks.  I can’t wait to introduce you, the faithful blog reader to not only my characters, but those of some of my favorite writers.

Tell me, dear writers and readers, who is your favorite character and name the traits that endeared them to you!

Critique My Blog Fest

Going on today at A Writer's Journey, my friend Teralyn is sponsoring a Critique my Blog Blog Hop.  I would really like feedback on my blog so I am posting some of the rules here. To join please check out her site! 


Here's how it works:

Please comment on the following items regarding my blog: 

      You can make comments on:

a.      Appearance: Does it appeal to you? Is it too busy, or too plain?

b.      Layout: Is it difficult to navigate? Is it cluttered, or sparse?

c.      Frequency: Does the blogger post too often? Not often enough?

d.      Content: Are the posts interesting? Unique? Are they focused, or all over the place?

e.      Quality: Are the individual posts too long, too short, too sloppy, or too generic?

Watch for an  upcoming series on characterization!

Week of Links for Writer's and Readers

This week has been a very busy week for me and my blog posts have been sparse. My roller derby team hosted a very successful recruiting event and we are busily preparing for season 2, which begins next month.  I am also participating in a couple of online writing workshops and have had assignments due.  I have learned so much in these classes and I hope to blog about some of those experiences.  For this post however, I am passing along some links I have found of interest this week.

100 Words for Facial Expression – This article is especially of interest to the historical romance fiction writer in me. I will most certainly add a wolfish expression to my 1930’s WIP.

The Bookshelf Muse presents us with Character traits of the disorganized. I love this website and highly recommend the thesaurus listings found there.

Melinda McGuire asks the question, “What If?”  She has several interesting previous posts to explore as well.  She is also a fan of another website I love, Larry Brook’s Storyfix.com

I must mention a Wedding Story I read this week as well over on Kimberly Matthews blog. I am a sucker for bookstore weddings. 

Donna Yates has a valuable guest post regarding the Use of Quotes in writing on her blog this week. 

Lisa Tener interviews  Dr. Jill Grimes, who authored, "Seductive Delusions: How Ordinary People Get STD's. This book is written in terminology that is understandable by the exact audience it targets. It has become required reading in several health and medical related classes. Dr. Grimes is a graduate of a program sponsored by Harvard Medical School that assists authors of medical related content learn to negotiate the writing and publishing process. She also offers some firsthand and excellent advice for authors attending any type of writing  conferences.  

K.M Weiland hosted Becke Martin Davis on her website this week. The post “What would Agatha Say?” was in reference to one of my all-time favorite authors, Agatha Christie. My favorite quote from Agatha Christie was in regard to her first try at writing.

To update the progress on my 2012 Genre Project I have chosen two books this week that have caught my attention. Seeds of Insight by Breeana Putroff and  The High Crusade By Paol Anderson, reviewed by a fellow Blogger Gene Lempke.  

Now, I must be off to the year 1935 and check in with my favorite character at the moment, Josephine.  I suspect today’s chapter will deal with keeping her well-meaning but slightly naïve grandmother out of some sort of trouble.  

3 Tips and Resources for New Bloggers

   This weekend I sat down to do some updates on my blog and the one I manage for my roller derby team.   My blog is on the Blogger platform and my team’s blog is on Word Press. Due to different platforms,  it may often take a few more steps to create the same effect on one site versus the other.  Tweaking the look and the design code often intimidates newer users, but by paying attention to detail the blog you desire can be achieved.

    I decided to add a cute little countdown graphic to both sites and in the process made a few mistakes, several corrections, and learned a little about programming.   Here are three things I wish I had done before I decided to make changes to both blogs: 

Trending on Google - Pope Joan

  I was ecstatic to see the character of one of my favorite, but little known movies featured in the Google Trends list today.   Pope Joan was recently featured on the Reelz Channel and is based on the book by Donna Woolfolk Cross.  I do not want to spoil the book (or movie) for those yet to experience the story, but I highly recommend both. 

  This a is a very compelling account of a woman who disguised as a man, rose through the ranks of the Catholic Church to become Pope.  It also highlights the place of women in society during that time frame and the hold of religion on mostly uneducated people.   Joan is born to a father who is a religious leader  in a village of uneducated citizens and a mother who still clings to her pagan roots. Both of these religions along with knowledge, help Joan become an understanding teacher and physician. 

    Her father  believes that Joan’s intellect is against God’s wishes.  A misfortune befalls the family and her father tells her that God caused the incident as a punishment because she had sinned.  The characters are superbly written and immediately capture the reader’ s emotions.
   The central theme of this book revolves around how the education of women begins to empower them, which of course is not what most men desired.  During this era it seems, that anything men did not deem appropriate, neither did God. Her perseverance, courage and devotion is not just to God but to the betterment of mankind.  This sweeping drama also tells a romantic tale of the love Joan must fully deny herself.  Click here to visit the website of this wonderful novel.

Update on ROW#80

Join me for Round of Words in 80 days!

Rounds of Words in 80 days. Blogs, Goals and Writing. What could be better?

  Click here to get the scoop on ROW80

I am finally getting around to updating my ROW blog page. I am happy to report that I am making progress with almost everything except my WIP. Roller Derby season begins next month and we are training pretty heavy for our first intra-league bout. I still have work to do to make my 25 laps in 5 minutes but I will make it before the bout in February, I  am sure.

I am taking two writing classes at the moment and participating in a WOW prompt group. I loved writing today's short piece for #WOW and you can read it here. I would love to hear feedback and appreciate any comments.  We are digging deeply into the emotions of our main characters in one of my classes. I love the workbook by Donald Maas. I also have 2 books on writing to get to this week and 2 books for the 2012 Genre Project to read sometime this weekend. They are both fairly small and I don't plan on sleeping much over the weekend!

I still have not gotten to the edits of chapter one of my WIP, but I am not letting that hold me back. The major scene prompts for Chapter 2 are written and I hope to spend a good portion of Saturday working on it.

I hope my fellow ROW80 participants are doing well. I have enjoyed dropping by some of the blogs this evening to catch up on their progress!

#WOW Writing Prompt – Trees and Magic

The matriarch of the centuries old family of trees has fallen and one lone human has come to pay his respect.  This human is among the few left who understand the magic and change that contributed to the demise of the way life that once thrived in this desolate place.

A thousand years ago, this was fertile earth with a small stream bubbling through the dark forest floor. What is left of this land and its family of trees is now divided by a gulf that became the sea. No longer is this the forest of enchantment.  Do you think trees get this big without a little help from a magical being?  The loving care and occasional sprinkle of sparkling fairy dust helped them reach towards the sun. To return the kindness, the trees offered shelter to all living beings.

When a tree had reached the end of its life, it fell to the earth amidst its brothers and sisters. They watched over it as its essence slowly returned to the earth from which it had sprung and each absorbed a part of it, helping them to grow taller and stronger.

The people arrived and began to multiply and intrude upon the forest.  They could the see the trees swaying in the gentle breeze and hear the leaves as they touched each other as if in greeting.  They could feel the rough bark under their fingertips.  Pungent mossy smells filled the forests. Most humans doubted the fairies, elves, gnomes and sprites. Soon, there were very few humans that believed and the kind and gentle fairy folk retreated deeper into the forests of the world. Look closely at the sand and you may occasionally find a dimming sparkle of fairy dust, all that remains to protect the earth and trees, its magic slowly dissipating.

The humans found the fallen trees could be used for light and heat. If the essence of a brother or sister could be helpful to the humans, the trees knew they could be of service, even if it shortened their own lives and growth.   Soon, the people began to take trees in the prime of their lives and still the trees knew their purpose would serve a great good by being transformed into an object of use. With the urge to make more space for themselves, the people removed the trees, leaving the fertile soil alone and barren.

 

With no trees to shelter, no grass to grow, and no pixie folk for protection, the small stream seized the opportunity and surged forth for its chance in the sunlight.