Writing News

This week in writing… I started out behind because I did my blogging on Monday since I’d already frittered away Saturday enjoying the writer’s conference with my lovely sister. And of course on Tuesday I got all of 5 minutes in before my laptop’s battery died and when I went to plug it in I realized that all of our power was out. Some kind of shut off on our generator that only the assistant manager or the hunky hubby can properly revive. But despite the set backs I was able to accomplish quite a bit. I filled out the info below for the 9 most important characters in this story.

Exaggeration–How is this character above and beyond, more interesting and more profound in his or her talents and failings than normal folk?

Exotic Position–How does the character’s location make the story more conflicted, more exiting, fresher, and more fun?

Introduction–How does this character’s opening action show us who they are and what they are about and draw us into their lives?

Verisimilitude–How can I make this character act believably?

Tags

Pick the words that I will be using to describe this character throughout the novel. Know exactly what they look like and how I will be explaining that to the reader and then be consistent as I use them.  Try to avoid using those words when not talking about this character. Don’t use the same descriptions every time, but do choose from the same pool of choices every time. We’ll see if I can do this without going crazy.

Traits

Instead of just words, pick a number of unique things about this character that will help them to stand out in the reader’s mind. I can use cool props or a mental attitude but I need something that they associate with this particular fictional person to keep them from blending together into a boring sludge of humanity.

Empathy

Why do we love or hate this character? What is it about them that elicits an emotional response?

So…after going through all of this information concerning these 9 people I know a whole lot more about the book! I know the history between characters, why some of them can’t stand each other and why so and so acts the way he does. Most importantly, I am seeing why they are special. What makes them interesting enough to be in a book in the first place.