Character development =The change in characterization of a dynamic character, who changes over the course of a narrative.
Oh yea…I’m on to the big things now. *LOL* seriously though, this is a hard to thing to master and sometimes…you just don’t want to. You just want to plow along and get the story written and forget everything else. Unfortunately for you types, this is an important, integral part to any story that is written. ANY story.
If your character does develop or grow, the story stagnant. Who wants to really read a story about a jackass who stays a jackass? Or a wimp who never grows a backbone? Or even the über housewife who never learns to leave the house and be her own woman and make mistakes? All these stories would just collect dust if nothing ever happened to them, if they never learned to live so to speak. As a beginning writer, it’s hard to master this step, to be able to see from above how your characters change. As the writer, you are in the story with them, living through what they do and how they feel.
Which can be used to your advantage. This is how development comes naturally, how people learn to ‘master’ it in a way. As you write the story, you have to realize that every page, every word, your character is growing, becoming someone else. The mean grumpy old man is becoming nicer, easier to be with. Not that he has to change completely, that just doesn’t work. But he has to have a spot, someone or a something that brings a smile to his face that wasn’t there in the beginning. The workaholic that thought he didn’t want kids finds himself slowly falling in love with an orphan he found shivering on the sidewalk. Some of this is cliché, but you get the drift.
In a way, this is how you as a person would relate to changes in your life. Would you grow, adapting and changing, or would you dig your feet in and refuse all attempts at newness. If that’s the case, then there has to be a damn good reason for it. Even then, once the reason is acknowledged, the change begins. The person starts to see how the reason no longer fits, how out of date it is, how stifling the reason has become. They evolve. Slowly, but surely.
Even villains evolve, though we as readers are loathe to admit it. They become either colder or warmer, but never fully good. They may even have soft spots, something that makes them almost human, that helps them develop into a different person, another character.
All of this is natural, which I know at times it hard to see. It may even become hard, if you think about it too much or too hard. You can force it, but it may come across as just that. Forced and difficult. Though at times, this may work for you. If the situation calls for the character to make rapid developments, then work it the best you can.
Just as you as a writer or a person have developed (hopefully) so too must your characters.
Any thoughts? Let’s discuss this.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Writing a blurb
Blurb=the bane of my existence
These are what sell your story. What gets the reader, the publisher, the agent drooling over what you’ve written. They can either make or break your story, whether or not the story is good. I read them and often base my reading choices on them. This is fine…until I have to write one. Then all bets are off and I’m crying in the corner asking for mommy.
It’s not that I don’t love my stories, or don’t know them by heart. Just how the heck do you boil your baby down to about two paragraphs? Seriously…I’d like to know. I realize that by the time you’re getting to the blurb writing stage, it is not your baby. You might even hate your story by this time. But still, how do you boil it down to only what is necessary to whet the appetite and not give anything away in the process. I have this tendency to want to go on and on about what I’m writing cuz it excites me so. I want everyone to love my book as much as I do. But...
Apparently I have to learn to do that in two paragraphs or less. I’ve read articles, books, blogs and forums for advice on how to accomplish this, but always it feels as if I’ve missed the bus, standing at the stop staring forlornly at the taillights as it turns the corner. So I slump back to the house and struggle through it on my own. Which usually works out for me…since I just go with what feels right. This is where a good critique partner can come in as well. They can and should give you their honest opinion about the work and what feelings it evokes in them.
So does anyone have any tips on how to write a stellar blurb?
These are what sell your story. What gets the reader, the publisher, the agent drooling over what you’ve written. They can either make or break your story, whether or not the story is good. I read them and often base my reading choices on them. This is fine…until I have to write one. Then all bets are off and I’m crying in the corner asking for mommy.
It’s not that I don’t love my stories, or don’t know them by heart. Just how the heck do you boil your baby down to about two paragraphs? Seriously…I’d like to know. I realize that by the time you’re getting to the blurb writing stage, it is not your baby. You might even hate your story by this time. But still, how do you boil it down to only what is necessary to whet the appetite and not give anything away in the process. I have this tendency to want to go on and on about what I’m writing cuz it excites me so. I want everyone to love my book as much as I do. But...
Apparently I have to learn to do that in two paragraphs or less. I’ve read articles, books, blogs and forums for advice on how to accomplish this, but always it feels as if I’ve missed the bus, standing at the stop staring forlornly at the taillights as it turns the corner. So I slump back to the house and struggle through it on my own. Which usually works out for me…since I just go with what feels right. This is where a good critique partner can come in as well. They can and should give you their honest opinion about the work and what feelings it evokes in them.
So does anyone have any tips on how to write a stellar blurb?
Monday, July 12, 2010
Making time...
Sometimes…my brain moves to quick for me. All these stories, banging around in my head, demanding that I put them on paper. I would…but my fingers don’t move that quick and my attention needs to center on the maximum of two stories at a time. Three if one is in critique. That’s my max. But my brain…damn thing…keeps telling me to put all the others one paper. Just a paragraph here…another one there…until I’m working on fifteen stories at once with no clear end in sight. Drives me crazy. ‘Cause I wanna do it. I want to put all the stories in my head on paper, finish all the plot lines that I started, and fill in all the empty spaces that beg to be filled. Alas…I cannot.
With a business to run and a job to work, I just don’t have the time I wish I had. My mother told me that I have to many things going on and something’s gotta give. I don’t think so. I just need to prioritize things in my life, put them in an order that makes sense to me and try to stick with it. Shouldn’t be too hard…right.
How do you keep on top of things? Let me know, I might use the tip.
With a business to run and a job to work, I just don’t have the time I wish I had. My mother told me that I have to many things going on and something’s gotta give. I don’t think so. I just need to prioritize things in my life, put them in an order that makes sense to me and try to stick with it. Shouldn’t be too hard…right.
How do you keep on top of things? Let me know, I might use the tip.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Critiquing
Definition: an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.
2. a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject, etc.
3. the art or practice of criticism.
–verb (used with object)
4. to review or analyze critically.
Is so much more than that just what the dictionary says it is. It’s also less than what the dictionary says. A lot of writers think that all you need to do is put pen to paper, go over your words later and your done. There is this inherent belief that you are your own worse/best editor and you don’t need outside help. I know this because I thought it at one time. Felt sure that I could do better work than someone I barely knew. I mean, this is my baby and I know what’s best.
I was wrong…very wrong.
I’m not saying that as a writer, you don’t know your work. You do…too well. A critique partner is that little voice in your head that says “What if…” they help you see the holes, the dropped plot lines, the character’s that just don’t…fit. They in essence make you question your work and see it from the reader’s point of view. Let’s be honest, the reader may not care about the back-story to your hero, the fact that you based it on you long lost love. They want the meat of the story, the grit, and the passion. If you’re stuck on the past and trying to explain every little detail, no one is going to pick it up. Except maybe me. I’m a stickler for details, but I assure, people like me are few and far between. A critique partner helps you figure out what works and what should either be tossed aside or left to the imagination. They may even give you some ideas on plot, how tie up the loose ends. Your cheerleading section if you will.
More than this though, a critique partner can become a friend, a companion in this crazy world we call publishing. ‘Cuz…it does get crazy out here. With contracts and failing publishing houses and people stealing your stories, you need an ally in your corner. Someone that gets this is your life and you need it to work. Not want, but need. You also need someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to tell you that the *werewolf story set in a future world of androids* may not be the best idea. Or if it is, how to do it so that’s original and cool, not kooky and…ugh. You get my drift.
It takes time though, to build this up. It does not happen overnight. You have to work at it as you do any other relationship. Being honest helps, but so does being sensitive, understanding that the story you’re reading is someone else’s baby, just as your story is yours and sometimes, people take criticism personally. You also have to be willing to say “This is not working for me. I think we should break up.” What is the point of working with someone that you don’t like, whose opinion you don’t trust or want? That is a waste of your time and theirs. You do need to be strong in yourself, knowing what you do and don’t want. I know that my critique partner and I have a long standing rule of just let it go. If it’s something either she or I feel strongly on, we leave it alone. Much like life, learn when to hold on, learn when to let go.
If you play your cards right, you and your critique partner can have a long lasting relationship, which can traverse just about anything.
*if this idea sells anywhere, I want in on it. Serious.
Definition: an article or essay criticizing a literary or other work; detailed evaluation; review.
2. a criticism or critical comment on some problem, subject, etc.
3. the art or practice of criticism.
–verb (used with object)
4. to review or analyze critically.
Is so much more than that just what the dictionary says it is. It’s also less than what the dictionary says. A lot of writers think that all you need to do is put pen to paper, go over your words later and your done. There is this inherent belief that you are your own worse/best editor and you don’t need outside help. I know this because I thought it at one time. Felt sure that I could do better work than someone I barely knew. I mean, this is my baby and I know what’s best.
I was wrong…very wrong.
I’m not saying that as a writer, you don’t know your work. You do…too well. A critique partner is that little voice in your head that says “What if…” they help you see the holes, the dropped plot lines, the character’s that just don’t…fit. They in essence make you question your work and see it from the reader’s point of view. Let’s be honest, the reader may not care about the back-story to your hero, the fact that you based it on you long lost love. They want the meat of the story, the grit, and the passion. If you’re stuck on the past and trying to explain every little detail, no one is going to pick it up. Except maybe me. I’m a stickler for details, but I assure, people like me are few and far between. A critique partner helps you figure out what works and what should either be tossed aside or left to the imagination. They may even give you some ideas on plot, how tie up the loose ends. Your cheerleading section if you will.
More than this though, a critique partner can become a friend, a companion in this crazy world we call publishing. ‘Cuz…it does get crazy out here. With contracts and failing publishing houses and people stealing your stories, you need an ally in your corner. Someone that gets this is your life and you need it to work. Not want, but need. You also need someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to tell you that the *werewolf story set in a future world of androids* may not be the best idea. Or if it is, how to do it so that’s original and cool, not kooky and…ugh. You get my drift.
It takes time though, to build this up. It does not happen overnight. You have to work at it as you do any other relationship. Being honest helps, but so does being sensitive, understanding that the story you’re reading is someone else’s baby, just as your story is yours and sometimes, people take criticism personally. You also have to be willing to say “This is not working for me. I think we should break up.” What is the point of working with someone that you don’t like, whose opinion you don’t trust or want? That is a waste of your time and theirs. You do need to be strong in yourself, knowing what you do and don’t want. I know that my critique partner and I have a long standing rule of just let it go. If it’s something either she or I feel strongly on, we leave it alone. Much like life, learn when to hold on, learn when to let go.
If you play your cards right, you and your critique partner can have a long lasting relationship, which can traverse just about anything.
*if this idea sells anywhere, I want in on it. Serious.
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