Category Archives: Character

Sunday Reads: 6 May 2012

Character Craft & Skills Kylie Quillinan Sunday Reads No Comments

 

10 reads worth your time:

 

At Writer Unboxed, Barbara O’Neal discusses the need to figure out what you’re really writing about.

At Editor Devil, read about how to Delinate Characters Through Dialogue.

Over at Romance University, Theresa Stevens talks line editing.

Marcy Kennedy discusses the use of smell in How to Make Your Novel Scratch and Sniff.

Over at YA Highway, Veronica Roth talks about the Strictly Objective Critique Partner.

Julie Butcher-Fedynich has A Ten-Step Program For More Writing Time.

Nathan Bransford lists The Top 5 Social Media Blunders You Shouldn’t Make.

Andrew Jack has some no-nonsense advice in It Doesn’t Matter How You’re Published – We’re All Self-Promoted.

Over at Genreality, Bob Mayer talks about the necessity to Have A Career Plan As A Writer.

And, just for fun, check out the The Terrible Crossover Fantiction Idea Generator for wacky creative writing prompts.

 

Missed any Fictorians articles this week?

How To Procrastinate Successfully – Kylie Quillinan

Other Venues – Dylan Blacquiere

An Exercise to Exorcise Personal Demons – Clancy Metzger

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Exercise to Exorcise Personal Demons

Character Clancy Metzger The Writing Life Writing Tools 1 Comment

Pretty much this entire year, thus far, I have been struggling with depression.  I’m doing better now, but I had to shed a lot of responsibilities that I had over committed myself to in order to get there.  That’s another story, and I won’t bore you with it here  🙂

  But, during all this, I wasn’t writing.  Wasn’t doing research, wasn’t brainstorming, wasn’t journaling, wasn’t working on my story – nada.  The only writing I was actually able to make myself do was the few blog posts I had committed to doing – like this one. That’s it.  This was not helping my depression either because I felt guilty I wasn’t working and I felt, acutely, the loss of my creativity.

I was talking to a friend (thank you, Wendy), who had just come out of some rough times herself and is also a writer.  What she had done and suggested I do was to listen to a dark song and write a character sketch for an antagonist with no intent to necessarily use the character.  Just to get dark feelings out.  Any song that took me to a dark place would do.   It took me a few songs and I had to get some suggestions, but I found one (Closer by Nine Inch Nails – the uncensored version – if you’re curious) that was sufficiently dark to me.  So, I listened to it a few times and started writing this antagonist.

What happened half way through was that I could see all the potential for a story using this character.  When I finished with him, I started sketching out the hero and heroine (I write romance – remember).  Already, I was feeling better and inspired.  Then I started writing some rough plot points, followed by the intro to the story.

 

And now, I’m writing.  It worked.  I hadn’t done any writing in months and through one cool exercise, I was back.  It is such a relief to be feeling more like myself and being creative.  So, I would suggest this exercise to anyone who needs to shake off some darkness from within.

How do you get through rough times when you’re struggling to create?

 

 

Sunday Reads: 29 April 2012

Character Craft & Skills Kylie Quillinan Sunday Reads World-building Writing Tools No Comments

 

10 reads worth your time:

 

Rachelle Gardner suggests your Train your Muse Like Your Train A Puppy.

Sonia Simone talks about the 7 Bad Habits of Insanely Productive People, all of which are relevant to writers.

The Red Pen Of Doom discusses Why Every Man Must Read A Romance and Every Woman Read A Thriller.

Over at Writer Unboxed, Sophie Masson discusses Updating Traditional Motifs To Create Fresh Fiction.

Jody Hedlund has 7 Setting Basics That Can Bring a Story To Life.

At Writers In The Storm Blog, Janice Hardy discusses 5 Ways To Bring Your Description To Life.

Terrible Minds lists 25 Reasons I Hate Your Main Character.

Jennifer Conner explains why you should care about Categories, Key Words and Tags.

The Huffington Post has three tips for getting your e-book off the ground.

Roni Loren discusses some bad advice about twitter.

 

Missed any Fictorians articles this week?

The Heart of Fairwood Press – Guest post by publisher Patrick Swenson

The Conflicts of Character Design – Matt Jones

Plumbing the Depths of Emotion – Brandon M Lindsay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Conflicts of Character Design

Character Matt Jones Writing Tools 4 Comments

There are many parts of creating a new novel, and creating realistic characters is probably one of the most challenging ones. Characters need to be believable. They need to have their own personality, habits, and traits that set them apart from others. If done correctly, the reader will be able to relate. They’ll understand and feel concerned. It’ll pull them deeper into the novel and they’ll keep reading to figure out what will happen. If done poorly, it will throw them out of the novel. They won’t be able to believe and before long, they’ll look elsewhere and leave your novel behind.

When I create new characters, I focus on the conflicts. Everyone has conflicts they face and have to deal with. It’s the sum of all these conflicts that can lead them on the road of hero or villain. These conflicts will generally take on the shape of external and internal, two sides of a fight that is always raging in everyone.

Internal conflicts are anything that tears your character apart from inside. This can be dealing with a phobia, memory, or other psychological barrier. It can be need to be the best, or look the prettiest. It can be the fear of the dark that makes your character abandon others he could easily save. Or the pride that keeps him from admitting he was wrong. The internal conflicts are generally the deeply ingrained problems that the character spends the entire novel attempting to overcome.

External conflicts are everything else that keeps your character on track. The broken home he has to deal with, the abusive parents. They can include the weather, environment, wild animals, or other characters. Anything that goes against what the character would do and forces them to make decisions.

When you create a new character, consider all the conflicts that they have to deal with. Write them down and keep them in your mind as you write them. They’ll keep your character constant and provide motivation to act, even if it’s running away. Once these conflicts are established, your character can show true heroism by not only saving the day, but by having to overcome their natural reaction to do so.