Hey everyone! I hope that you all had a truly wonderful week and an even more wonderful weekend. My week was great. I have really gotten into my book this week and I have really gotten to know my characters a lot better. I feel like things are looking good in that area.
The topic for today's post is that nobody is perfect. I definitely am not perfect. I get cranky and mopey. I mess up and make mistakes. I know that you aren't perfect either. But our imperfections are what makes us human. Our flaws make us who we are.
Like us characters should have flaws. If you have a hero who is perfect with dimples and a killer smile and never does anything wrong there most likely is a big problem. If you have a heroine who is perfect in every way and is good at everything they ever attempt to do, you also probably have a problem. They aren't relatable at all. Now I am no writing expert. I haven't published a book and I am not an English teacher. But I have heard multiple people and teachers say that a character has to be well rounded. A well rounded character has flaws and hopes and disappointments. They become just like you and me. I am also writing this from the side of a reader. I love to read. I love to meet new characters and join them on their adventures. I love to weep with them and laugh along with them. But I need to like the character first or at least relate to them a little. I don't mean we have to be mirror images but I need to at least be able to see where they are coming from. I wont like a character who is perfect. I can't understand them. I wont feel sorry for them if something bad happens to them in fact I may feel a little gleeful depending on the severity of course. The story would become boring to me and I might even stop reading the book. That's not good.
I am not stupid enough to think that I am the only one who feels this way. If I don't like seeing this in books that I read why wouldn't I make sure this wouldn't happen in my own writing. It's not easy. It's hard making sure each character has a story of their own. They also can't all be alike. They can't all talk or think alike. They definitely can't agree on everything and they can't all have the same flaws. Life doesn't work that way and my story can't either. I could just do something quick and give everyone random quirks and imperfections but that doesn't work for me. It may work for some people and I say good for them but I just can't do it that way. When I write the flaw has to match each character's personality. It has to be somewhat logical and it has to make the character more unique and realistic. As I have been writing this story I am in awe of how other authors do it. I don't know how they have the patience and determination but I want to be able to do it to.
Writing is what I am most passionate about. It is hard, believe me it is hard but it is also so worth it. I get to play make believe and step into a story of my own making. This is book is my Inkheart and I plan to enjoy every bit of writing it.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all next week. Have a great week guys!
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Sacrifices
Everything requires sacrifices. A sacrifice may be as small as allowing someone to cut in front of you making you be late for something or it can be as big as allowing someone else to receive a promotion that you may deserve but they may need more. Sacrifices can go even beyond that and lead to loss of life. Either way someone has to lose something.
You are probably wondering where I am going with this but it will all make sense I promise. I along with the characters that I have made are required to make sacrifices. In fact they are interconnected and their sacrifices could not exist without mine and vice-versa. When I started this book I started out with a clear picture of what would take place from start to finish as well as who every character was supposed to be. I had their personalities down as well as their unique vocabulary. When I started writing that first version of my book I wrote and wrote for pages and pages I was practically half way done with it. But in all honesty it was all just a bunch of dog doo. It was unoriginal and predictable. My characters did not make one single sacrifice and neither did I. We couldn't have played it safer if we had all decided to spend the rest of our lives in a plastic bubble. Well okay maybe that was an exaggeration but not by very much. Let's just say it was really awful.
Obviously I can't say what sacrifices my characters have to make because I don't want to give anything away but you better believe they have to make some. I shouldn't be the only one to suffer during this process.
With this story I have to let my characters fall down and find their own way back up. I have to cry along with my characters when they get their hearts broken instead of making all their pain magically disappear. Sometimes I have to let the unimaginable happen in order for them to grow. Sometimes a character that I absolutely loved doesn't even make it into the book or maybe they are only in it for a short while. There are times when sacrifices need to be made in order for the book to move on to the next part of the story. That may sound tough but that's the life of a writer. Like us characters are shaped by events that happen to them and the choices that they make. Like us that is what builds character and that is life. Life can not exist without some sacrifice. I have to sacrifice my some of my plans and hopes for this book in order for my characters to be able to sacrifice.
This book has changed so much from what I have expected it to be and I have learned to stop fighting against it. I am excited to see what the finished story looks like as well as if I will even recognize the characters. I will continue to sacrifice and hope that my story will get even better.
I hope you have all had a great week and will have another great one. See you all next week. Oh and don't be afraid to leave a comment.
You are probably wondering where I am going with this but it will all make sense I promise. I along with the characters that I have made are required to make sacrifices. In fact they are interconnected and their sacrifices could not exist without mine and vice-versa. When I started this book I started out with a clear picture of what would take place from start to finish as well as who every character was supposed to be. I had their personalities down as well as their unique vocabulary. When I started writing that first version of my book I wrote and wrote for pages and pages I was practically half way done with it. But in all honesty it was all just a bunch of dog doo. It was unoriginal and predictable. My characters did not make one single sacrifice and neither did I. We couldn't have played it safer if we had all decided to spend the rest of our lives in a plastic bubble. Well okay maybe that was an exaggeration but not by very much. Let's just say it was really awful.
Obviously I can't say what sacrifices my characters have to make because I don't want to give anything away but you better believe they have to make some. I shouldn't be the only one to suffer during this process.
With this story I have to let my characters fall down and find their own way back up. I have to cry along with my characters when they get their hearts broken instead of making all their pain magically disappear. Sometimes I have to let the unimaginable happen in order for them to grow. Sometimes a character that I absolutely loved doesn't even make it into the book or maybe they are only in it for a short while. There are times when sacrifices need to be made in order for the book to move on to the next part of the story. That may sound tough but that's the life of a writer. Like us characters are shaped by events that happen to them and the choices that they make. Like us that is what builds character and that is life. Life can not exist without some sacrifice. I have to sacrifice my some of my plans and hopes for this book in order for my characters to be able to sacrifice.
This book has changed so much from what I have expected it to be and I have learned to stop fighting against it. I am excited to see what the finished story looks like as well as if I will even recognize the characters. I will continue to sacrifice and hope that my story will get even better.
I hope you have all had a great week and will have another great one. See you all next week. Oh and don't be afraid to leave a comment.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Status Update Number Two
Here is my day late post. I am doing a status update on my story because I know I haven't done that in a while and I know that some of you may be curious as to how far I have gotten with my story. I am not even to the half way point yet however I am planning to work on it some more tonight. I am feeling a lot more motivated and have found inspiration from the smallest things every day.
So as of today June 2, 2014 I have written 17,681 words. I know I know slow progress but I will have a little more time to write this during the summer. This is equal to 70 pages in book length, which isn't too shabby but not anywhere near long enough for a novel. But if my story will be between 350-400 pages I have between 280-330 pages left to write but with the way I am feeling now I will knock out quite a bit of that tonight.
I do not have a clear picture of how many chapters I have written because as you may remember from an earlier post you don't always have to write from the first page to the last. In fact I already have the last and first pages so now I just have to fill in the rest of the middle. The hard part about writing a trilogy is that sometimes I have an idea for all three of the books. I am not working on the other two at the moment but if I have a great idea that I know I will forget I have to write it down.
Thank you all for tuning in to a pretty short and mundane post but I thought that this week I would tell you where I am in my book. Next week I will write on a different and longer topic.
So as of today June 2, 2014 I have written 17,681 words. I know I know slow progress but I will have a little more time to write this during the summer. This is equal to 70 pages in book length, which isn't too shabby but not anywhere near long enough for a novel. But if my story will be between 350-400 pages I have between 280-330 pages left to write but with the way I am feeling now I will knock out quite a bit of that tonight.
I do not have a clear picture of how many chapters I have written because as you may remember from an earlier post you don't always have to write from the first page to the last. In fact I already have the last and first pages so now I just have to fill in the rest of the middle. The hard part about writing a trilogy is that sometimes I have an idea for all three of the books. I am not working on the other two at the moment but if I have a great idea that I know I will forget I have to write it down.
Thank you all for tuning in to a pretty short and mundane post but I thought that this week I would tell you where I am in my book. Next week I will write on a different and longer topic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)