tesarak:

thewritingcafe:

Book series occur in all genres, especially fantasy and sci-fi, but how does one write a series? It may seem hard, having to come up with more plots for the same characters (in most cases) who you have to develop over the course of more than one book. If you like to plan things out before you write them, you may feel as though it’ll be impossible to organize the content of however many books you plan to write. Or may be wondering about the basics of writing a series.

Planning:

Some people like to plan. Some don’t. Some writers plan out every detail and keep characters, scenes, plots, and even dialogue organized. Others have simple outlines for each book. When writing a book series, it’s best to plan it out. It’s more time consuming than writing a single book and it takes a lot more work. However, free writing the first book may be a good way to get your series started and to see where it’s going.

Before you begin the initial planning process though, decide what your book will be. Decide on an idea and expand it. Try writing a few short stories with characters you have in mind to get a feel for them. While my story takes place in another world, I used to take my characters and write a few hundred words about them in situations we face in our world (like getting a flat tire in the rain). It really helped me flesh out my characters and develop how they would react to emergencies. 

Try free writing about your central idea. This may open up subplots or plots for more books. Keep a journal, or anything else you can document your thoughts in, with you to write down any ideas that may come. Play with these ideas and keep in mind that coming up with an idea doesn’t mean you have to use it. Even if your ideas don’t have anything to do with your main idea, write them down anyway. You may be able to find a way to incorporate them in your series.

  • Characters: Know which characters will be in what books. Know the role your characters play and how important they are to the story. If you have two minor character who can be mashed in to one, do it. It’ll make for less characters and therefore less work on your part or confusion to the reader. Your protagonist(s) is a different story. That character, or characters, has to be one whom readers will love. This character has to be the best you can make if you want your readers to read an entire series about this character. For all your characters, keep track of them. Keep a list of their names and any important information. I’m extremely detailed when it comes to my characters and I even have birthdays picked out for each and every one, no matter how minor, even though only a few characters reveal their birthday within the story. Keep track of their appearance, even the smallest blemishes if you mention them.
  • Plot: If it helps, make a chart of all the plots and subplots. Make a timeline, even. Or you can try a thought web to keep track of plots and how they roll into other subplots and such. I would recommend bubbl. What makes a series a series is the plot arc. This encompasses all the books within the series and connects all the main plots. Your first book will usually define this, but it does not have to be obvious right away because plots lead to other plots.
  • Setting: This is especially important if the setting takes place in another world. Draw a map first and keep track of where your characters are. Readers will notice if in book one you mention that the fireplace is made of dark brown bricks in the first book and gray stone in the second. Draw out floor plans of homes and buildings. Add in details, such as the location of doors and furniture.
  • Cause and Effect: This includes plot and character decisions. What happens in the first book will affect the second book and so on. If you plan out the entire series and change something in the first book, you might have to go through the other books and change that too. That’s why you shouldn’t completely write out all the books in their entirety before editing. Keep track of all the causes and effects in your series (again, using bubbl is good for this). You also need to keep track of how your characters change in regards to factors around them. Have they acquired scars? Have they gone through a significant change?
  • Foreshadowing: Plan small elements of foreshadowing that lead to other books. Perhaps mention a character that hasn’t been met yet in casual conversation or point out an unmet region on a map. Sirius Black was mentioned in the first chapter of the first Harry Potter book, but didn’t show up until the third. However, keep these light. Don’t make it so obvious that the character will start looking out for it.
  • The End: Have a sense of how the series ends while writing the first book. The ending could relate back to the first book or it could parallel the ending of the first book.
  • Motifs: Will you have any motifs throughout your book series? Why?
Writing the Rough Draft:
Don’t worry too much about the technicalities when writing the rough draft. Just write what you have planned (if you have a plan) and see how it feels. Keep track of any changes you made to your outline. If you don’t like it and decide to rewrite most (or all) of your rough draft, don’t delete what you first wrote. Keep it for reference.
Don’t worry about the length, spelling, or grammar. The rough draft is called a rough draft for a reason. It’s just a sketch. You can erase it. However, if something feels very wrong (mostly big factors such as POV) when writing your first draft, trust your instinct and stop. Don’t waste your time on something you don’t like.
And really, do not worry about length. I promise you the length of your novel will change as you edit and rewrite.

The First Book:

The first book is the most important, especially if you’re a debut author. This book will be the first glimpse readers have to the world and characters you’ve created. It has to be good enough that readers will be willing to read more. It’s the hook.

It should stand alone, but the ending does not have to be definite. At the end of The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta arrive back in District 12. There are no cliffhangers, but there is room for more. The ending does not guarantee a sequel. The reason for having the first book stand alone goes back to selling your book. If the first book doesn’t sell, publishers won’t want to waste money on more books. When self-publishing, you can do whatever you want, but it would be smart to make the first book stand alone in case the sales are bad.

Content:

  • Don’t feel like you have to explain everything in the first book. Only put in what is necessary. Spread out the information throughout the series when that information is needed or relevant.
  • Leave some blanks. Don’t give away everything about your characters. Give them secrets. Keep their back stories light if they show up in later books.
  • Focus on what is important to the first book. Don’t mention anything that might be in the second book (unless it’s very light, such as mentioning a name of a future character in dialogue). The characters who are only in the first book need to be fleshed out while main characters who spread out over the series don’t need to reveal everything about themselves.
  • Again, the plot should end in the first book. Of course, subplots may carry over in other books and the main plot may be part of a larger plot arc, but all the major questions need to be answered in the first book.
The Pitch:
When writing a query letter, do not mention that your book is the first in a series. Instead, say it has the potential to become a series, or that it is part of a possible planned series. Don’t say you already have all the books written and ready to go. Though you may write all the books first if you feel more comfortable with having every detail down, just don’t mention they’re all ready. Because they’re not. You’re probably going to change some things in the first book during the final editing process, and those changes may have an affect on the later books. Don’t set everything in stone.

Companion Books:

Companion novels are not series. They are books which take place in the same universe as other books (no, this doesn’t mean all books that takes place in England during the twenty-first century are companion novels). These books may have the same characters in one or more books that are not meant to be a series, or they may have completely different characters. However, there may be a series within companion novels. For example: Of six books, three are part of a series and three may stand alone, but they all take place in the same universe. You can also look at video games for another example. To play The Elder Scrolls series, you do not have to play all the games to understand the latest one, Skyrim. The Hobbit can be considered a companion novel to The Lord of the Rings, as it is not necessary to read one to understand the other and they can both stand alone.

In short, the setting, not the characters, bring your stories together. Plot may bring them together too (such as something that affects that universe, like war), but setting is the primary connection.

Keep in Mind:

Characters shouldn’t go through huge developments in each book. Some may not change in one book at all, and that’s okay because that character’s story is most likely not over.

Plots should connect to each other. All of the main plots in the Harry Potter books had something to do with Voldemort whether directly or indirectly.

The writing style should stay the same throughout the series, but the tone may change.

Determine other elements of your series:

  • POV: Will the story be told in first person? Third person limited? Will the POV switch between chapters or will you primarily focus on one character? Remember that when writing a series, you’ll be writing like this for the whole series. If you’re not too fond of first person, don’t write in first person. If you think third person is boring, don’t choose that either.
  • Characters: You’re generally stuck with your main characters throughout the whole series. Unless you’re experienced and talented enough to able to pull off something like A Song of Ice and Fire. Don’t write character that bore or bother you. Maybe, if you really like you protagonist, but don’t like writing them in first person, you can use another main character (the sidekick) as the main POV. Imagine how differently Harry Potter would have been if the story was told from Ron or Hermione’s POV.
  • Continuity: Don’t mess this up. One of the greatest examples of continuity I’ve seen has been in Arrested Development. The detail of it is amazing.
  • Information: Keep track of what information you let out and when. This will help a lot in later books when you’re trying to remember how much the reader knows about certain characters or places.
  • Structure: The structure of yours books should be similar. If the first book is split up in parts, so should all the other books. If all the chapters in the first book range between 4,000 and 6,000 words, so should the chapters in the other books. Keep the exceptions to this rule small. If your chapters get longer each book, don’t have the first two books go from 3,000 words a chapter to 8,000. Even something like that can take away the feeling of reading a series.
  • Does it Work?: Make sure your series works as a series. Most YA (without any elements from other genres (with few exceptions such as romance)) series take place in school and center around a group of friends. MG series are more often on the comedy side with soft plots (see: Diary of a Wimpy Kid). But do your plots work? Can they make a good series? Or would your series run dry of plots and elements to keep interest? Imagine if Looking for Alaska had a sequel. Would it work? Probably not. What else is there to know? What else does the reader want to know? What would the plot arc be? However, a companion novel could probably take place at the same school in that book.
  • Don’t Get Too Attached: One drawback of writing the entire series before submitting the first book for publication if getting attached to the other books. If the first book doesn’t sell, you’ll be more upset about the other books. If you think your book will be exactly the way it was when you submitted it, you’re wrong. Agents and editors will probably have you change a few things and that may affect the other books. Remember, your editor is trying to help you. Be open to changes and suggestions.

A lot of interesting points here!

Source: nimblesnotebook
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/ Ebonrune / Leave a comment

Writing Advice: by Chuck Palahniuk

In six seconds, you’ll hate me.
But in six months, you’ll be a better writer.

From this point forward—at least for the next half year—you may not use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use.

The list should also include: Loves and Hates.
And it should include: Is and Has, but we’ll get to those later.

Until some time around Christmas, you can’t write: Kenny wondered if Monica didn’t like him going out at night…”

Instead, you’ll have to Un-pack that to something like: “The
mornings after Kenny had stayed out, beyond the last bus, until he’d had to bum a ride or pay for a cab and got home to find Monica faking sleep, faking because she never slept that quiet, those mornings, she’d only put her own cup of coffee in the microwave. Never his.”

Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present the details that allow the reader to know them. Instead of a character wanting something, you must now describe the thing so that the reader wants it.

Instead of saying: “Adam knew Gwen liked him.” You’ll have to say: “Between classes, Gwen had always leaned on his locker when he’d go to open it. She’s roll her eyes and shove off with one foot, leaving a black-heel mark on the painted metal, but she also left the smell of her perfume. The combination lock would still be warm from her butt. And the next break, Gwen would be leaned there, again.”

In short, no more short-cuts. Only specific sensory detail: action, smell, taste, sound, and feeling.

Typically, writers use these “thought” verbs at the beginning of a paragraph (In this form, you can call them “Thesis Statements” and I’ll rail against those, later). In a way, they state the intention of the paragraph. And what follows, illustrates them.

For example:
“Brenda knew she’d never make the deadline. was backed up from the bridge, past the first eight or nine exits. Her cell phone battery was dead. At home, the dogs would need to go out, or there would be a mess to clean up. Plus, she’d promised to water the plants for her neighbor…”

Do you see how the opening “thesis statement” steals the thunder of what follows? Don’t do it.

If nothing else, cut the opening sentence and place it after all the others. Better yet, transplant it and change it to: Brenda would never make the deadline.

Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating.

Don’t tell your reader: “Lisa hated Tom.”

Instead, make your case like a lawyer in court, detail by detail.

Present each piece of evidence. For example: “During roll call, in the breath after the teacher said Tom’s name, in that moment before he could answer, right then, Lisa would whisper-shout ‘Butt Wipe,’ just as Tom was saying, ‘Here’.”

One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering.

For example: Waiting for the bus, Mark started to worry about how long the trip would take…”

A better break-down might be: “The schedule said the bus would come by at noon, but Mark’s watch said it was already 11:57. You could see all the way down the road, as far as the Mall, and not see a bus. No doubt, the driver was parked at the turn-around, the far end of the line, taking a nap. The driver was kicked back, asleep, and Mark was going to be late. Or worse, the driver was drinking, and he’d pull up drunk and charge Mark seventy-five cents for death in a fiery traffic accident…”

A character alone must lapse into fantasy or memory, but even then you can’t use “thought” verbs or any of their abstract relatives.

Oh, and you can just forget about using the verbs forget and remember.

No more transitions such as: “Wanda remembered how Nelson used to brush her hair.”

Instead: “Back in their sophomore year, Nelson used to brush her hair with smooth, long strokes of his hand.”

Again, Un-pack. Don’t take short-cuts.

Better yet, get your character with another character, fast.
Get them together and get the action started. Let their actions and words show their thoughts. You—stay out of their heads.

And while you’re avoiding “thought” verbs, be very wary about using the bland verbs “is” and “have.”

For example:
“Ann’s eyes are blue.”

“Ann has blue eyes.”

Versus:

“Ann coughed and waved one hand past her face, clearing the cigarette smoke from her eyes, blue eyes, before she smiled…”

Instead of bland “is” and “has” statements, try burying your details of what a character has or is, in actions or gestures. At its most basic, this is showing your story instead of telling it.

And forever after, once you’ve learned to Un-pack your characters, you’ll hate the lazy writer who settles for: “Jim sat beside the telephone, wondering why Amanda didn’t call.”

Please. For now, hate me all you want, but don’t use thought verbs. After Christmas, go crazy, but I’d bet money you won’t.

(…)

For this month’s homework, pick through your writing and circle every “thought” verb. Then, find some way to eliminate it. Kill it by Un-packing it.

Then, pick through some published fiction and do the same thing. Be ruthless.

“Marty imagined fish, jumping in the moonlight…”

“Nancy recalled the way the wine tasted…”

“Larry knew he was a dead man…”

Find them. After that, find a way to re-write them. Make them stronger.

(via 1000wordseveryday)

I need to go back to school.

(via cordeliagablewrites)inspiration

(via thescienceofobsession)

My learning is ofwficially insignificant. My writing minor and all those classes do not make me as qualified as reading this has.

(via kikukachan)

thepagansanctum:

16 HERBAL TEAS with Health facts to put on your grocery list

1.    Nettle                                                                                               Nettle is made with the leaves of stinging nettle, named for the tiny hairs on the fresh leaves which can sting the skin. Despite it’s rough exterior, nettle is one of nature’s best remedies for an assortment of ailments including anemia, high blood pressure, rheumatism, arthritis, coughs and colds, congestion, urinary tract infections, and kidney and bladder problems.

2.    Chamomile Tea

Chamomile is a popular herb that’s used in teas worldwide. Chamomile soothes the stomach and relieves bloating and indigestion. Chamomile also calms the mind and helps people relax and deal better with their stresses. Some people are allergic to chamomile and should avoid taking the tea. People who find it hard to go to sleep should drink a cup of chamomile tea before going to bed. Chamomile is known to fight insomnia by relaxing the body and the mind, enabling the person to fall asleep naturally.

3.    Ginger Tea

Ginger is an energizer and a stimulator. Drinking ginger tea both stimulates and soothes the digestive system. Ginger has been known to aid people experiencing nausea. Arthritic people have found ginger tea helpful since it has anti-inflammatory properties.

4.    Peppermint Tea

Peppermint is a fragrant herb that makes for a soothing drink. Peppermint helps you digest foods better and also reduces flatulence and digestive issues. Peppermint is prescribed to people with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and gallstones in capsules. A cup of peppermint tea will ease nausea and vomiting, especially if you suffer motion sickness. If you have heartburn, don’t drink peppermint tea as this might aggravate your condition. Peppermint tea brings down the severity of herpes outbreaks. The natural mint flavor of the herb helps to freshen your breath. Other health benefits of this tea are control of muscle aches and chronic pain, clearing of congestion and mild coughs, mild asthma and reduction of stress.

5.    Lavender Tea

Lavender tea is made out of the dried purple, pink and white colored flowers that grow on lavender shrubs. Used as a scented herb for many centuries, lavender’s medicinal uses have been appreciated and documented for centuries. A cup of lavender tea can soothe your mind and body, inducing sleep. If you are feeling down and depressed, a cup of lavender tea can help uplift your spirit.

Lavender tea helps sooth and treat flatulence, colic, bowel infections and an upset stomach. Lavender tea can be used as a wash on the chest to help reduce cough, bronchitis, asthma, cold and other respiratory issues. For both children and adults, lavender is used to reduce body temperature during fever. Lavender also has healing properties; use a wash of lavender tea to help heal wounds, cuts, ulcers and sores.

6.    Lemon Balm Tea

Lemon balm tea is fragrant to drink and is a very effective tonic to calm nerves and anxiety. Cold lemon balm tea bags help relieve cold sores, or genital sores caused by the herpes simplex virus. Mix lemon balm leaves with valerian to treat anxiety, stress and insomnia.  Lemon Balm contains several properties, which control herpes and also regulate the thyroid.

Lemon balm when mixed with peppermint can calm an upset stomach, sooth the digestive track and reduce flatulence. Drink lemon balm tea if you suffer from nerve pain. Drinking lemon balm tea also helps strengthen memory and brain functions and also uplifts one’s mood.

7.    Rosemary Tea

Rosemary is not only good for cooking but makes a healthful and highly beneficial tea. Rosemary can help your muscles to relax. Additionally, rosemary is an effective digestive aid as well. If you have gall bladder and liver complaints, drinking rosemary tea regularly will greatly help relieve your symptoms. Rosemary tea also relieves cough and mild asthma symptoms.

8.    Hibiscus Flower Tea (Sorrel)

Dried Hibiscus flowers are made into a tea that offers very high health benefits. Hibiscus tea is known to lower blood pressure, reduce high cholesterol and strengthen the immune system (it’s rich in Vitamin C). Hibiscus flower infusions have known to reduce hypertension as well, in people prone to this condition. A recent study reveals that hibiscus tea is rich in antioxidants, which protect the body against cell-damaging free radicals. Red zinger tea and sorrel tea contain hibiscus.

9.    Green Tea

Green Tea comes with such a host of health benefits, that it’s called the ‘wonder herb’ by tea drinkers and medical practitioners alike.

Drinking green tea lowers cancer risk and also inhibits carcinogenic in cigarettes and other compounds when imbibed. Green Tea contains potent antioxidants called polyphenols, which help suppress free radicals. Green tea also stops certain tumors from forming. Green tea lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels and thereby promotes heart health.  Green tea also lowers blood pressure, prevents and fights tooth decay and dental issues, and inhibits different viruses from causing illnesses.

Read more…

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Writing Tips #122: Dealing with Character Trauma

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bookgeekconfessions:

Tips by Andrew Jack

Originally posted on Andrew Jack Writing

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Your protagonist is going to go through a lot. Whether you’re writing a grueling horror novel or a romantic comedy, it’s the suffering of the protagonist in one way or another that carries us through the story. I’m looking at this through the lens of an urban fantasy/horror writer but it applies no matter what your genre.

But if our characters are even remotely human we need to deal with the aftermath of them undergoing that trauma. Let’s say you’re writing a Lovecraftain horror story, the heroine has to fight her way through madness, monsters and mayhem* to find herself at the end of the story with all of her friends dead (perhaps some by her hand) and her perception of the universe absolutely shattered. If it’s a one off story you don’t need to deal with what that kind of experience can do to a person in the long term, although it’s a good idea to at least hang a lampshade on it.

In a series or a story that covers a long time period it has to be addressed. It will depend somewhat on who your character is, but sooner or later if they’re exposed to violence or extreme strangeness they’re going to have to deal with it. Whether dealing with it means speaking to a counsellor, medication or simply having a good friend to talk it over with is up to you and to the scale of the trauma your characters go through.

A series that dealt with this well was Charles Stross’s Laundry Files where the main protagonist, Bob, is called upon to deal with everything from spy skulduggery to Elder gods that think he looks delicious. He experiences extreme violence from every possible angle and it all but destroys him. The only way he holds everything together is the organisation that he works for provides counselling and medication (not to mention a quiet safe place to stay) while he learns to cope.

It’s worth mentioning that while professionals who are trained to deal with bad things (soldiers, cops, doctors etc) cope better under pressure because they’ve been trained to, they will still need help dealing with major traumatic events. This is true even if your character is an absolute badass, in fact the only time it might not be true is if you’re writing a protagonist who’s a sociopath. Even then, sociopath’s aren’t superhuman and they will experience their own fallout from traumatic events outside of their control**.

Something else worth noting is that characters who end up killing other people during the course of the story are going to be changed by the experience. How they change is going to depend a lot on the character and if they’ve been trained and conditioned to kill. If you want to do some more reading on this then I can highly recommend Dave Grossman’s book On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society for a closer look at the effects being trained to kill and the act itself can have on people.

For your fiction, the most important thing is to remember that you can’t have your character unaffected by the things they’ve gone through and the things they’ve done. Such characters are boring, not in the least because they’ve been done to death. Far more interesting is the character that get’s hurt, is terribly traumatised by the things that have happened to them but keeps going anyway.

* The three M’s

** They’ll probably be okay with traumatic events within their control

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writeworld:

somedamngoodpancakes asked: Hi! I know you don’t normally answer fan mail, but I need to know if you have any lists of powerful words like Elysium, Guardian, ect. and if you had any place to direct me to a cheap editor on tumblr? Thanks!

As far as I know, we don’t have a list of powerful words anywhere. I’m not even really sure how to go about looking for/compiling something like that. Maybe these links will help:

As for cheap editors, I know of betas. Check out Finding a Beta Reader for more on that. Does anyone else want to chime in on the betas/cheap editors question?

Writing Tip #89: Time to revise, but how will I know if I’m making it better, not worse?

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bookgeekconfessions:

image

Everyone knows about the terror of the blank page that you’ve just written Chapter One at the top of. Some writers spend weeks approaching it, dabbing a couple of words on, and deleting them. Others research for a decade in order to avoid getting to the blank page moment at all. And one of the chief reasons that the crazy/shitty first draft principle works for so many people is that suddenly the cost of failure isn’t so high: this was only a crazy first draft, after all. Anything goes to get words on the page; we’ll turn them into the right words later.

But what if you’re fine with starting, and with finishing that draft, but are terrified of revising? Some feel uneasily that their punctuation/grammar/spelling aren’t up to scratch, but that’s relatively easy to learn – and you may not be nearly as bad as you think. Others just don’t know where to start eating this elephant: some suggestions here. But what if what worries you is revising the bigger and more intangible things? What if you’re terrified you won’t know if you’re making it worse, not better? For some, that fear can be paralysing. First, here are some thoughts about how to keep in touch with the shore as you launch out into the unknown.

  • Do it on a new copy of the file (but you know that one).
  • Don’t fiddle: know what you’re doing to your book today, and stick to it.
  • Go through, on hard-copy (or screen with comment balloons), just reading, and making notes about what needs changes, not actually stopping to do them. That way you can read fast, more like a reader, and hold on to a sense of the bigger picture. You’re less likely to lose sight of the baby while scooping out the bathwater, or change something because you’ve forgotten it’s like that because in Chapter 17… Then put it all into practice on the new copy .
  • Use Track Changes, so you can review everything before you commit to it. It depends what program you’ve got, but I set it to have deleted stuff in balloons, not inline, and new stuff in something reasonably unobtrusive like dark green. Then I can read the new version reasonably fluently and naturally, but still tell the difference between new stuff and old stuff. And if you’re using Scrivener (my new writerly Best Friend) or MSWord, you can search by text colour if you want to find only the new things.
  • If it’s all a disaster, you can always just go back to the original version. If you might want to preserve a few bits of the new stuff (or track changes reminds you too painfully of the day job) you could just do everything on the new copy without track changes, merge the two documents, and pick your way through accepting and rejecting each difference

Read More

» A Stonefox Guide to Punctuation.

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stonefoxroleplayer:

As we all know, punctuation is crucial. Despite the importance, however, it is fairly skipped over in school––specifically dashes, commas, and semicolons (seriously, when the fuck are you supposed to use those?)––so I’m here to help! And by “I’m here to help,” I mean, “I’m here to compile a masterlist of punctuation resources.”

A ROUGH GUIDE TO PUNCTUATION:

Briefly discusses the use of periods, colons, semicolons, commas, question marks, apostrophes, hyphens, dashes, parentheses, exclamation points, and ellipses.

PUNCTUATION IN DIALOGUE:

Very important. Covers everything from single lines of dialogue, to full paragraphs, to changing speakers.

GUIDE TO COMMA USE:

A quick guide to when you should commas.

WHEN NOT TO USE COMMAS:

A quick guide to when you shouldn’t use commas.

USING DASHES:

When to use dashes.

GUIDE TO HYPHENS:

Hyphens are used to join words together, but there are a few rules to usage.

HOW TO USE A SEMICOLON:

It’s an illustrated guide. Enough said.

A Character Should Be Their Own Person

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referenceforwriters:

Characters should feel, breathe, think, be. People should be able to read and not see a device to drag the plot forward, but a person’s story. And we should be able to connect with that person’s story, be it through emotions, values goals or experiences, or all at once. We should be able to relate to them, as that’s the pleasure we find by reading and seeing characters who are like us, think like us, and look like us. We feel present, and by connecting with that character, we want them to succeed in whatever they want to accomplish; we hurt when they’re feeling bad and we are happy when they are.

As writers, our job should aim towards creating human beings people can connect with at some level, emotionally, psychologically, or physically. 

That character’s goal? They try very hard to succeed; yet, they fail. They feel bad, or don’t care, or get angry; yes, you connect with it because you have a goal as well and you know how it feels to fail. And when a character fails, you get to know them by seeing how they react towards their failure. We see their flaws and their qualities. It’s like we’re meeting a whole new person through the pages of a book or in front of a screen. 

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Or they don’t have a goal at all, yet. They don’t know where they’re going in life. If you’ve ever felt that way, that you probably have, you will connect. Connection, connection, connection; we should aim towards that. Characters should be their own person, and we should connect with them.

There is an underlying feel of vulnerability in almost every person, and in almost every character, for that matter. There is something good in every “bad” character, and something bad in every “good” character. There are flaws and qualities. There are weaknesses and strengths. When creating a character, we should focus on both equally, as that’s what makes a whole human being, whether readers get to see both sides or not. We should create them and explore them, if we really want to get a grasp on them. 

Why is a question that should be always asked by us when writing them. Why do they behave this way, why would they do that thing, why this, why that; why, why, why, and how. How they would speak, how would they react to this, how would they react to that. 

Another thing I’d like to address is that a character =/= their job and a character =/= their disabilities or illnesses. 

All characters, not only main ones, should have a purpose. And they should have their own stories, they should be their own, and maybe you don’t have or should tell their stories, if they’re not relevant, but they should be there. All your supporting characters must have their own story and a reason for being in your novel, book, or whatever it is you’re writing. 

What I mean by all of this is that if you want us to like or dislike whatever characters you’re creating, you should make them humans on their own, they should have a story, and we should be able to feel something towards them. Make us hate them, make us love them, I don’t care. Make us feel something. 

If you’re currently not developing your characters, you can do this: find your favorite book or show or anything, and take the characters. Dissect why it is that you like them and why you don’t for those. Really try to find out what you like of them, whether it is a goal, a trait, a flaw.

And if you haven’t seen this video, go do it, because it’s really fascinating.

-Alex

/ Ebonrune / Leave a comment

chaperoned:

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“Readers tend to like characters who are struggling to achieve a goal. This simple principle can be invaluable in creating sympathetic protagonists.

  • Characters working toward a goal are active characters.
  • Characters who aren’t working toward a goal are reactive.
Reactive characters are much weaker than active characters, and we tend not to like them. Unfortunately, many writers end up unknowingly creating reactive protagonists.” – Odyssey Writing Tips

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PROACTIVE CHARACTERS »»

  • A proactive character is a character who does things. They make decisions, they initiate actions, and they are driven by a goal that often makes them pick the wrong decisions and actions.
  • This is important because what characters choose to do is going to create your plot. Why they choose to do it will create your stakes. Together, these factors make you invested in a plot.
  • Proactive characters drive plot. They don’t just have strong goals; they actively pursue them. That’s one of the reasons people tend to love villains: they have a clear goal, are often centered around the attainment of that goal, and those goals give interesting insights into their personality and choices.
  • This makes proactive characters are easier to build around and work with as the plot progresses. You can make plots around their goals and find ways for those goals to lead to new ones.
  • You can get away with having reactive characters in literature sometimes because you’re able to rely on secondary characters to drive the plot and impact your character. (If you roleplay, you don’t get this luxury in RP because everything is centered around character interaction.)

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WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT »»

Thehappylogophile has an answer:

“Almost every novel has it: down-time. That moment between the adrenalin-fuelled car chase and the point where the slasher leaps out of the tree-line and drags the protagonist’s boyfriend into the undergrowth. It’s a chance for the characters (and the reader) to take a deep breath and process everything that’s just happened. It’s often the point where characters share information, or plot their next move, or take advantage of the lull in death-dealing to “celebrate the wonder of life”. (Cue the sleazy electric guitar.)

So, how does your character behave in the lull? If she takes the opportunity to sit quietly and cry, or goes along with someone else’s suggestion, or her entire plan revolves around waiting to see what happens next, she’s probably a reactive character.

A proactive character is likely to be the one leading the conversation, making plans that include the theme (if not the words) “the best defense is a good offense”, or even taking the opportunity to return to her pre-story goals.”

What you should take away from this is: when a character isn’t driving the plot, s/he needs to have interesting goals/development outside of the main plot to work towards. This way, your character is always developing over the course of the game and still doing something during downtime instead of sitting idly by.

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IS MY CHARACTER REACTIVE »»

“A reactive character is more likely to do what’s “easiest” or “more immediate”. If choosing between two love interests, the reactive character will go with the one in front of him right now. Or the one who tries the hardest to woo him. Or the one that his friends tell him he should go with. Alternately, he won’t make a choice at all — at least, not until he’s either forced to do so by outside events (“Declare your undying love for me, or I’ll start drowning kittens! “) or one of the options is removed (“Now that Laura is dead, you have to love me!”).”

In short, reactive characters don’t make the interesting decisions that give us insights to a person’s personality or develop it.

“A proactive character will make a choice. It may not be the right choice (and often isn’t), but it’s a choice nonetheless: “I’ve considered my options and have decided that I’m really in love with the evil, but incredibly sexy, vampire, and not the sweet girl-next-door who’s always been there for me. How could anything possibly go wrong?”

In roleplay, you can generally characters aren’t reactive when their histories/personality read more like a grocery list of characteristics or events. Proactive characters’ applications are driven by and explore their goals and decisions.

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WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE REACTIVE CHARACTERS? HOW CAN I AVOID IT? »»

A big reason people make reactive characters is often because of the method they employ creating characters. Many times, writers will take a sort of Frankenstein approach — mixing and mashing character traits and then try to flesh them out. They say my character has x, y, and z trait. S/he has these traits because of a, b, and c.

Don’t do that. That approach generally does not work (unless mixed with others). It wastes your time and doesn’t get at the heart of the issues.

Sure, that can be a good approach to generate ideas. However, unless you find a conflict to base those traits around or use them to further that conflict, no one is going to be invested in your character or have a good idea of how these traits manifest and, most importantly, why.

If you need a formula to follow, try starting with:

  • In order of importance, what are the five most important things to your character and why? (make note of conflicting wants and goals)

Tie in information about your character’s deeper motivations. Try to think about where your character’s sense of worth comes from, who they’re trying to impress and why, which of their own (or others’) priorities these might clash with, what characters may believe others want, their goals/values and how they were established, re-occurring problems in your character’s life (jealousy, financial issues, etc.), what sort of person other characters believe yours is, in what ways your character is uniquely selfish, your character’s opinion of him/herself, your character’s ambitions, what your character works to gain/protect, etc. If you’re having trouble, try this resource.

  • Ex. Being liked. It is important to my character that he is liked. Peter struggled with it as a child because of his romantic involvement with his  goldfish, leading other children to think he was strange. He can be somewhat sycophant because of this and tries to secure that he is liked by making himself valuable to others even when it can be damaging to himself and those around him.

and/or

  • Character Name wants to accomplish these three goals: being more character trait, obtaining status symbol, and protecting his/her ______. S/he wants to accomplish these things because s/he values ___, ___, and ___. S/he is driven to accomplish them because s/he is good/bad trait and good/bad trait and isn’t above doing _____ and ____ to get these things, which makes him/her good/bad trait, good/bad trait, and good/bad trait (or makes other people view him/her that way).

Don’t use really broad, universal traits. If you’re using characteristics like those mentioned here (reserved, trusting, critical, etc.), it might mean you’re being too broad. Saying your character is angry or selfish, for example, fails to give insight into what that says about your character. Everyone is selfish and angry — just to varying degrees and because of various factors. For example, in this episode of Awkward Black Girl (which is an amazing webseries if you haven’t seen it), the main character Jae is sent to anger management. The characters in her anger management session go around saying why they’re there, and Jay (different character) shows how this gives insight to the things they care about. Pete gets angry when time is left on a microwave and not cleared because he cares about time management, Jae has an outburst when someone doesn’t return her stapler because she wants to feel respected.

My favorite trick to generate ideas for a character application is asking myself:

  • How is my character broad characteristic (ex. uniquely selfish)? It helps you focus in on a goal, gain insight to what they value, and develop specific ways their characteristics manifest.

The key to creating proactive characters is to have them become involved in solving their own problems/accomplishing their goals, rather than depend on others to solve them. If you want an example, you can go here, where you can read through an author’s personal attempt to make her character more proactive.

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WHAT IF I’M ALREADY DOING IT? »»

(The first step is admitting you have a problem.)

The number one reason players get bored in roleplay or feel “stuck” with what they’re writing is because of something editors deem “episodic writing”. Cheryl Wyatt describes it as happening when “one scene happens then another and another and so on but there is really no point to the scenes”.

It happens when you lose sight of your character’s goals and how you want to develop him or her. (The reason people get so invested in relationship lines in roleplay is because it’s a quick and easy way to create goals and because there are pre-established milestones you can develop your character around. This development is often generic but satisfying as players are more invested in the stakes.)

Episodic writing happens for two reasons: 1) your character is reactive or 2) you’ve lost sight of your goals for your character and you’re letting them be reactive when they have a number of things established that would make them proactive. For example, your scenes/characters might read like this. You can see another great example of a problematic storyline here.

Additionally, you might be limiting the scope of how your character can develop and need to branch out more. Or you’re not thinking through ways you can accomplish the goals you’ve established for your character going in.

How do you fix it? Give your character a goal – or better yet, several goals. Let your character need help accomplishing those goals. This helps you develop character relationships, helps you develop your character (especially when you tie in weaknesses, values, etc.), and gives your character something to do. BAM! it really is that simple.

What kind of goal? There are some amazing resources here.

Then, you can have those goals lead to more and more negative consequences. It’s a bit like that book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, where a little problem can lead to big ones.

One of the best examples I’ve read (but can’t find the link to) is this:

  • Jane has become obsessed with growing a certain type of flower to spite her smug neighbor. Despite her best efforts, the flower won’t grow. She tries buying an expensive fertilizer online. She doesn’t realize that buying it has set her back $20 and her checking account is now on a negative. If she doesn’t pay rent, she’ll be kicked out. And on and on and on. Through this, you can help develop your character’s traits. For example, if Jane is too prideful to ask someone for money, this could result in character growth.

Jane is interesting because Jane is proactive. She actively works to grow that mfing flower. Her bad decision/goal leads to other bad decisions/goals.

Tada. You’re now well on your way to making your characters more proactive.

See also: Quick & Dirty Guide To Improving Your Writing

Source: novacorps