Tag: Character Development

Does A Change In Seasons Change Your Writing Habits?

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

blur branches depth of field dry leaves

Does a change in seasons bring changes in your writing habits?

I’m voting yes on my ballot. As the daylight fades and it starts getting darker earlier, I find myself planted in my chair a little more, pecking away at my projects. But for me, it’s just because I’m an outside kind of person. I spend more time outside during the summer season which just leaves less time inside at my desk, translating into a less productive time of year for me.

I know what you’re all saying. Why not write outside?

Yeah, I see all you writerly types posting outdoor Instagram photos of yourself and a laptop, perfectly perched on a quaint table or sandy beach near a softly rolling ocean, picturesque lake, rippling stream, or overlooking a valley or scenic mountain range.

My office for the day. The view from my workspace today.

But are you really writing? Are or you doing what I would be doing, staring out into that beautiful setting, mesmerized by nature and trying to remember where your fishing pole is while keeping your laptop open to check social media?

Hey, if you can write like that, more power to you. For me, a setting like that would be the reward for getting my writing completed, because I surely wouldn’t want to be staring at my laptop screen while all that great scenery is within my view, just begging for attention. “How am I supposed to write with all these distractions. ” is what the caption of my Instagram photo would read. Hashtag not writing, haha.

I do find inspiration in the views, though. I can easily see how a little outdoor time can refresh oneself while providing new insights and a clean brain slate, so to speak. In fact, a good walk has helped me further my writing numerous times, whether I’m stuck on a particular scene or just looking for the right words or phrases to convey my intended message.

Nevertheless, for whatever reasons, as the days get shorter you are way more likely to find me right here, butt in the chair, painfully reminded of the fact that I still haven’t purchased that comfortable office chair.

But, as professional writers, I suppose this is where we all should be anyway, right?

Have a great writing day!

 

Fool Me Once: Authors, Don’t Do This To Your Readers

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

actor adult business cards

I’ve been duped. Duped I tell ya, duped.

And I’m not happy about it. And you shouldn’t be either.

I picked up a book by an author because of a couple of positive reviews it received. “I’ll give it a shot,” I said. “I’m always looking for new reads, and I’m always happy to find new, or let’s just say, lesser-publicized authors to read.”

I got home with the thinner than expected book, which folks are now calling novels. These shorter length books used to be called novellas, maybe, but they’re nowhere near the number of words I associate with a novel. But that’s neither here nor there. A good story is a good story, no matter what you call it. And this was right up my alley, a “dark psychological thriller”, the jacket boasted. “You won’t believe the twisted ending”.

Yeah, I didn’t believe the ending all right. But not because of the dark psychological twist.

Oh no.

I didn’t believe the ending because I WAS DUPED. Duped by the author. And I was always taught that that’s a big no-no in a fiction book.

The beginning started out interesting, and then the characters started picking up steam in their own, quirky way.

Good deal, I thought.

The tension was slowly building, in a creepy sort of way. I’m invested at this point and reading on. About halfway through the book, a couple of things happened without explanation that would’ve raised questions from anyone following along. But they were never addressed, passed over as normal or coincidence, maybe. Then more, and more.

The ending came in fast and furious fashion, containing the aforementioned twist and unbelievable finale. It also, however, was narrated around some serious gear switching, an abrupt reversal of the previous storyline, and then, one simple explanation.

“What you’ve been reading is a story from a twisted mind that may have made up facts, encounters, and situations based on what they perceive as reality. Oh yeah, and this packet of papers that you just read, (meaning the book), was, in fact, his sick mind’s way of leaving a suicide note.”

What? WHAT? Are you freakin’ serious?

Twisted reality I can get behind but made up just to carry the story through? And “perceived” by the author?

This is akin to having a dream sequence erasing the validity of the whole previous storyline. An easy way out when you paint yourself into a corner: A way to bring back a favorite character after the outrage of killing them off.

C’mon man.

Fool me once, but I do still possess somewhat of a memory, and believe this fact. Next time I see that author’s name on an interesting looking cover, I will likely move on to another author’s work. And that’s not just a perceived reality.

Authors, don’t do that to your regular or future readers.

We deserve better.

 

Writers Are Always Working, Even When We’re Not

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

adult bench business man garden

Well, it’s been a bit, hasn’t it?

With the writing I mean. Your WIP. More specifically, with my WIP, actually.

All I can say is that life happens, you know?

Family matters, when serious enough, must take precedence and get priority treatment, of course. Mix that in with the deadlines of the paying job, and before you know it, your WIP, well, mine anyway, has a fine layer of dust on top of it and a couple of scenes that we can barely remember, right?

Right…

So once things calm down and get back to a more manageable, routine pace, those undeniable urges to get back to your writing passion return to haunt and taunt you, making you feel guilty about the neglect, and even making you doubt yourself again. The hot writing streak has ended, and you’re left slouched in the chair trying to stay awake by thinking about everything except the details of your story in progress.

Or are you?

I found that there is a shining light at the end of this long, seemingly endless tunnel. And it’s right there in my own head.

Strangely enough, I noticed that even though it was difficult to get the time and space to sit down and get involved with the ongoing plotting and writing of my story, my brain apparently never quit working on it, even if it had to wait until it was in the subconscious mode to get to it.  I would wake up sometimes thinking about certain scenes, characters, and plotlines even though I hadn’t given it any thought on that particular day. Of course, then I tried to immediately jot something down resembling keywords in the hopes of later triggering my memory to retrieve those thoughts or risk losing them for good (See examples of this behavior here). Unfortunately, some of my hastily written notes look more like hieroglyphics than keywords, and no, my WIP has nothing to do with Egypt or the carvings and etchings that they used.

What I’m saying is, not all writing is putting letters down on paper or making tapping noises on your keyboard. We’re still working when we’re thinking. We’re still working when we’re playing out different scenarios and plotlines in our head. We’re still working when we’re sitting there silently looking out of the window into an open space. We’re not working, however, when we’re sitting there silently looking out of the window into an open space with our forehead leaning against the window attached to a smooshed, stretched face that’s stuck to the window because of the moderate amount of drool escaping our half-open mouth.

But then again, maybe we are. Subconsciously. Maybe we really are.

In that case, we writers are really working twenty-four hours a day, so if you would be so kind as to excuse me, I’m going to take a nap.

I’m exhausted.

 

A Word Is A Word, And It Counts

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

alphabet close up communication conceptual

 

Yep, that’s what I tell myself. A word is a word, no matter if it’s one of one or one of thousands. And it counts the same, so if you’re tight on time and you just jot down that first word of a chapter, paragraph or conversation, it’s one more word than you’ve had before, and it counts, baby. It counts.

This little pick-me-up speech comes courtesy of a recent busy schedule, but busy in a good way. A little more contracted work meant more time devoted to that work, which happened to require a little more research this go around coupled with a client requested change on the morning of my deadline, but hey, all good, right?

Sure, except for making any real progress in my personal, creative, fun type of writing. And I missed it, big time. So that’s when I decided to just do microbursts of writing in short little drive-by type of sessions, running through the office, opening up my laptop and typing a sentence or three or five, then closing up and going back to regularly scheduled duties and responsibilities.

And it wasn’t bad. It began to feel more like a game or a contest, which obviously I would win no matter what because hey, it was a game with myself, and I made the rules up, which for the record is the best type of game to be in, amirite?

But it worked, in a sort of flash fiction way where all the passages are related and depend on each other. I’ve enjoyed being in previous writing exercises that had a number of writers involved, each creating a one hundred word passage in a story, then passing it on to the next writer to continue the story with their hundred-word passage, then passing it along to the next, and so forth. All passages must be related and continue the story from where the previous writer had left off. It’s a very cool and fun exercise and can be timed if you like, turning it into a writing version of improv.

The best thing is, not only does it count, it adds up. Those short little microbursts of writing can add up to significant words by the end of the day, elevating your WIP with dedicated ideas and thoughts that can be filled in and expanded on later, you know, when you do get the time to sit your butt in that chair and do what we all want to do-write more.

Happy Writing

Ideas During Sleep, ​Blank Stares While Awake

On By gldlubalaIn Writing1 Comment

light

We always hear about the constant need for a pen and paper nearby for those golden, light bulb ideas of brilliance that only show themselves when we are least expecting them.

I always believed this to be the crazy notion until I was proved wrong. “Once again”, some might interject here.

Blissfully awoken by an overactive brain that decided to come up with a great headline for a boring article I was working on, I actually smiled in the darkness of my brilliance, knowing that my client was going to simply gush over my amazing word wizardry and probably throw a sack of money to me for making his company social media go viral.

And then I fell back asleep, followed by a traditional alarm clock revelry. I jumped up all excited to get to writing, pointed my fingers downward ready to play the keyboard like a piano player ripping through some ragtime music when I realized that every bit of that idea flew from my head to never return.

“Dammit” I proclaimed to all within hearing distance, which was maybe a bird and two dogs that decided to tuck their heads just in case I was talking about them. I sat, twisted face and scrunched brow, trying to remember the forgotten words: Any of ’em, at least one of ’em, maybe just the beginning letter, consonant or vowel, to jar my memory and get the ol’ generator humming.

My head sank, as did my expectations.

This wasn’t the only time this kind of thing happened. I consistently tell myself I’ll remember something only to consistently show myself how unreliable of  a source I can really be,

Yet I continue to resist joining those that carry the paper and pen with them at all times, those that are happily transferring their light bulb ideas and clever phrases to paper, complaining about their overabundance of ideas and how they just don’t have the time to get to ALL of them that are written in their file.

I’ve been saving a special word for people like you, I say. And as soon as I remember what it is, I’m calling you out on it. But it’ll have to wait because, you know, I didn’t write it down at the time, and…forgot.

Dammit!

 

Regaining Writing Momentum After The Holi-daze

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

person sitting on bench under tree

So that big push in November for writing more, especially if you participated in NaNoWriMo, led to a giant “sigh” in December, flowing right into the holidays, after which we skated into the new year.

Before you knew it, you might not have written anything constructive for a couple of weeks.

Sound familiar?

I myself felt like I was treading water, and I can’t swim!

The creative writing part of me just kind of remained stuck in the mud, not moving backward, but certainly not moving forward either.

So how do I jumpstart myself out of this little funk? 

It happened to be a combination of things, the first of which was putting the behind back into the chair. If I wasn’t writing, I was reading. I read fiction by authors I enjoy and nonfiction works on the craft of writing. I read blogs and comments on writing techniques. I attended our local writing guild’s workshop.

And then I read my own work.

I read my wip, from the start to where I left off, which consequently left me hanging without any type of closure to the story, because well, there was no ending written for this story, now was there?

No, there wasn’t, and you know what? There is only one person that can write that ending, and that’s the one sitting in my chair. So there’s your motivation. You are the only one that can write your story, and write it well.

So get that behind in the chair, at home or at one of your favorite inspiring locations, plug into your favorite music to create with (just please tell me it’s not that creative mood channel on Spotify-please, please) and start writing. Anything. Anything at all. Just write. And you’ll get back into that groove that you had started before being interrupted by those pesky holi-daze.

Good writing!

 

Keep Your WIP Moving With Secrets And Motivation

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

 

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Keeping plot, action, and dialogue fresh can be a challenge. but Sol Stein can help you with that.

Who is Sol Stein, you ask?

He’s the writer of a great book on craft techniques and strategies, both fiction and nonfiction, and beyond. It’s titled, Stein On Writing. And why wouldn’t it be?

He suggests to spice up your drama, dialogue and plot, maybe give each participant a unique secret, kind of a whisper in their ear. Something that relates to the story, yet only is known by the person speaking. It may be a motive for a particular action, a desire for a specific result, a reason for having a lively conversation in the first place, etc. Provide something unique to each person that only they know to fuel their actions, motive and personal stance within your WIP. And no two characters get the same information at the same time. Intriguing for sure.

But it makes total sense, doesn’t it?

I mean, isn’t that what happens in real life? We take the bits and pieces of available information that specifically pertains to us and use that as our motivation in our conversations and dealings with people. Now, whether any of that information is accurate is a totally different story, but nonetheless, it affects us in everything we think and do.

From his book, Sol Stein says:

“That’s what happens in life. Each of us enters into a conversation with another person with a script that is different from the other person’s script. The frequent result is disagreement and conflict–disagreeable in life and invaluable in writing, for conflict is the ingredient that makes action dramatic. When we get involved with other people, the chances of a clash are present even with people we love because we do not have the same scripts in our heads. And the tension is even greater when we are involved with an antagonist.”

So there ya go, the secret to keeping your dialogue and plot action-oriented and full of drama.

Just like we want it to be.

 

#AmWriting

 

 

Seasons Change, And So Do I…

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

autumn close up color daylight

Well, here we are, back at that dreaded daylight savings time, or maybe a better name would be the daylight shifting time. Apparently it’s not enough that the sunlight naturally dwindles a bit each day now, because we feel theneed to manipulate our clocks to better match the lighting patterns of the sun.

Shouldn’t we at least get to vote on this?

It really doesn’t matter, I suppose, because I can’t really do anything about it. I just accept the fact that I will, through no fault of my own, lose an hour of my preferred daylight time while some others may benefit from the change.

But does it affect you? More specifically, do your writing habits change with daylight savings time? With the seasons in general?

It does for me, I know that. Being someone that loves to be outside, including being able to sit out there and so some writing, you betcha it changes things. It brings me inside, of course, but it does so without the benefit of natural light. There I sit, darkness the backdrop out of the window, soft light glowing at the desk, and it puts me in a different mood. A wintertime, sluggish, less aware mood. If I liked locking myself in a room to write, I would love this time of year, because that’s what I feel. It’s more of a job than an activity, and it’s harder to get up and get outside to stretch the bones and mental processing.

But here we are, and theres nothing to do but sit my posterior down and put words to paper, whether hot or cold, sunny or darkened.

And you know what? Even if it does feel like more of a job during this time of year, what a wonderful and fulfilling job it is.

Happy writing to you all!

 

What’s Your Why, And How Does It Affect Your Writing

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

ask blackboard chalk board chalkboard

We hear the phrase a lot.

What’s your why? Why are you choosing to do what you do? Specifically, why are you writing?

So here’s your chance to explain yourself. What’s your why when it comes to your writing? I mean, you’ve got a reason for putting pen to paper, don’t you? Sure you do, or else you wouldn’t put yourself through the headaches, backaches, and mental struggles of finding that perfect word or phrase to get your point across.

Say, for example, that you write because that’s what you get paid to do. Perfectly legitimate reason, and a fine reason to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard. I do it myself, and know that deadlines, contracts, and pending payment are fine motivators. Fine motivators, indeed.

Let’s say you write because you have a message or sales pitch that needs to get out. Again, a perfectly fine reason to write and get that message out to your targeted audience. This, seemingly, is one of the main reasons that articles and web content are splattered about all over social media, sometimes over, and over, and over, and, well, you get the picture.

“Because I have a story to tell, Jerry. That’s why I’m writing”. Excellent. Write that story and get it out there. Tell those that should know, and those that you think will have interest, and then sit back and be satisfied that you got your story out there as desired.

“I shall be rich and famous, revered by all for my literary prowess, leaving a legacy of the written word that shall carry over into the history books. I shall please everyone with my words, and everyone will buy my books”. Okay, here is where I must pause and turn away while laughing so hysterically that my eyes turn red, coffee shoots out of my nose, and I need an inhaler to regain my composure. Aack!

Come on now, you don’t really believe that one, do you? I mean, if that happens, kudos to you. Honestly, congratulations! But writing just usually doesn’t work that way. When you’re trying to please a certain group, person, or genre, the words will reflect that in an almost sleazy, sales pitchy way. Good for those used car salesman, but bad for a writer.  In fact, for creative story or novel writing, it’s tough to completely narrow down your genre before writing your story or novel, because you have to be continually aware of the parameters and various rules you need to remain in your predetermined genre classification.

I have a different idea.

You’ve got a pending story or idea for a story in you. And for one reason or another, (the why), it needs to come out. Whether it’s a story that you’ve been thinking about, pouring over, and painstakingly working on every-single-day, or it’s an article that you’ve been commissioned to write, just write it. No immediate rules, no confining parameters. Just write it as you see it, because you know what?

You can shape it, edit it, and transform it later, after the original draft is written without the predetermined rules. This will ensure that the article, short story, novella, or novel will be written in your voice, ultimately satisfying your why. It doesn’t matter who you think the audience will be, or what the genre was going to be. Those things will be revealed naturally as your story evolves.

Happy writing.

Fixing Boring Fictional Characters By Looking Into Their Real Lives

On By gldlubalaIn WritingLeave a comment

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There’s always a lot of discussion about characters in writing, as should be. I mean, without the characters, your story is just a long narrative on scenery and background. But hey, sometimes even with characters, your story is just a long narrative on scenery and background. And that sucks.

But maybe your characters are just boring or too predictable throughout your work. Do you, as the writer, really know who you’re writing about? Are they shallow because you haven’t developed them enough throughout the story, or shallow because they indeed, are just that type of person? Do you have any idea about their upbringing, their values that they hold true, or their innermost beliefs? Do you know their favorite expression, hobby, favorite music, or most hated food?

I’ve found an interesting way to find answers to questions like these and likely others that you haven’t even thought about through a fun and simple writing exercise.

Drop those characters into situations that they would never encounter in your story or novel. Put them in scenarios that they would likely never encounter in their real lives. Yeah, I said it. The real lives of your fictional characters. Go ahead and take a minute to think about that one. Because there’s a lot of character development to be had when diving into the real lives of your fictional characters.

Are the characters from your story rural based? Take a few minutes to magically drop them into a Hollywood red carpet event and write down their personal thoughts and their conversations with others at the event. How do they react? What do they whisper to each other? How would they respond to the extravagance, and sometimes arrogance, of Hollywood life? How do they react to the reactions of others to them? You can bet that there will be some basic beliefs and values that come out in those thoughts, conversations and inner reflections from that event. And they’ll help you determine their actions and the reasons for those actions throughout the scenes in your story.

Maybe your characters are top of the line, successful detectives, complete with all of the latest tech gadgets, information processing, and social media skills that help them solve or even prevent crimes. What if these detectives were all of a sudden swept up and relocated to a time period without all of the current technology or sophisticated cellphones? What if these detectives, armed with all of these savvy skills, were dumped into a scenario where people didn’t have or know of such devices? What would those conversations be like? Would the detectives be deemed crazy? Would they have the patience to deal with problems in the old-fashioned way, using old-time detective work and personal interaction? Their acquired and innate personality traits will ultimately determine their actions and reactions, which will be the same traits that are the basis for their actions in your current work in process, both in their work situations and in encounters with others, positive or negative.

These traits, recorded from the unexpected, uncomfortable situations that you put them into are the true traits and beliefs of your characters. Traits that were either acquired along the way or taught to them long before they became a character in your manuscript. You brought them into the reader’s world to share a story about a particular time or event in their life, so it’s your responsibility to show the reader the character’s true personality, which hopefully evokes love, hate, or at least a rooted interest, positive or negative, from your readers.

Which is infinitely better than a reader putting your book down before finishing because of boredom.