Day 5 {least favorites}

Hello everybody! First I would like to say I sorry I didn't get around to commenting on everybodies posts yesterday, I had an extremely busy day.

Day 5 - Your least favorite character you've written.

Yes, it is okay for tears, (I just wanted to get that out of the way)

No matter how many times we write there will always be characters that rub us the wrong way. Maybe it's a bad guy that's doing its job. Or maybe it's a main character that makes you wish he was alive and in that room so you could tell him a thing or two. What ever the circumstance they will always be there.

We do not take pleasure in not liking our characters, in fact quite the opposite. I have one to many time mourned my incapability to like a character of mine. Who has been this character for me?

Lets call him (Steve). I don't want to use his real name and Steve was randomly chosen. He was perfect, typical, and had no personality. Because of those thing I can't really talk about him much, he was boring. Oh, so boring.

*tears*

I'm okay now. I don't want to end this post on a sad note so I will post a funny writing quote that has nothing to do with what today's post is. (I used the word 'post' three times in one sentence I it didn't sound very good.)

"What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working even when he's staring out the window." - Burton Rascoe.

Day 1 {favorites}

Hello and welcome all, to the first day of the 15 day challenge (writers edition). I hope these two weeks will be filled with laughs, pondering thoughts, and lots of comments; not just on your part but on mine. ☺

Important! - I will be putting a linky tool at the bottom of all my 15 day challenge post so I can see what you post too.

The first object on our agenda is:

Day 1 - Your favorite character you've written.

Okay. . . Um . . . Yeah . . .

No matter how many times I think it over, I always will have a special feeling for my main character in a book I tried to write called: The Day the Newspaper Came.

1- It was my first NaNoWriMo project.

2- I loved my main character Taylor Suit.

3 - The book stunk.

But despite how bad it turned out I haven't been able to delete it. It holds wonderful memories of sitting down and writing from late Saturday night to early Sunday morning. And I think somewhere deep down inside me I have a hope I could rewrite it.

*sigh*

Back on the note of favorite characters, Taylor Suit would most likely win.

"Who is Taylor Suit," you ask.

"Very good question," I answer.

Taylor Suit is a 20 something year old who is a math and science genius (she also has a real green thumb). Grew up in a small town with her mom, dad, and brother. Her brother left for the army at age 18. And her parents died two years after her brother left. She continues to live in the small town but has dreams of opening a garden shop in New York.

What about you? I'd love to hear any of your comments or questions.

to be or not to be (character development)

To be or not to be, that is the question. - Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Oh, dear characters, why do you let me down? It's so odd that main characters do what main characters should not do. To me a main character is a hero, a Robin Hood if you will, a defender of the weak. I was very upset every time I started writing a book my main character was far from what I wanted him/her to be. So what was wrong with me?

As I started reading books and paying close attention to plots line, characters, and such I noticed a ground breaking thing. No character is born/introduced perfect. No character starts as the hero but develops into what he/she must become, like real people. As I thought this another thought entered my mind: It would ruin a book to just happen upon a perfect hero. Like opening a book in the middle and trying to understand it.

Characters need development, trials, and choices to make them who they are. I like to quote Shakespeare's famous saying, "To be or not to be, that is the question", when referring to characters choices. For "to be" will take them in one direction while "not to be" will, as well, change there live. And sometimes us writers don't even know what will happen one way or another. We, most of the time, are just along for the ride. So just keep in mind that it will not always appear the way you want it to, but it will become more clear in the end.

One thing to keep in mind thankfully is that God does not write stories like us. He has no plot issues, no character issues, and no second thoughts for He has written our story with care.

Bad Guys part 2

Wow! This post is long over due.

In part one of my post on bad guys, we looked at some of the different kinds of bad guys. In part two of this "series" we will be looking at three things that make a good bad guy. (And yes, I know how contradictory that sounded.)

One - Do not forget to introduce your bad guy.

It would be so cool if all character could have name tags. Imagine it, Captain Hook enters with his beautifully handwritten name tag and everyone knows who it is. Not just bad guys but all characters.

(Using the example of Captain Hook and Peter Pan. Warning: not taken form the real book.)

One of the ways you could do that is to let someone who already knows who Captain Hook is speak.

Example:
Peter Pan gasped, "It's Captain Hook."

That was easy, and now everyone know who he is. Granted, if you want your bad guy to remain a secret for the time being, let it. But don't forget to introduce his when it comes time. Nothing is more annoying than reading a book that expects you to know all the characters.

Two - Every bad guy needs a purpose, fuel, a motive. Why is he doing this? We know that every bad guy has a motivation. Captain Hook wants to kill Peter Pan. Dr. Cuddles (from 'Muddle Earth', a wonderful book!) wants to be ruler of Muddle Earth. The Red Queen, well, just likes saying "Off with her head!"

It may seem like an unnecessary thing to have to figure out before you write. But I promise if you don't know why your bad guy is doing this, neither will your reader.

Three - Depending on the role you give your bad guy, it (being the role) should suit how you want your readers to look at him. You would probably take a different approach at introducing your bad guy if you wanted your readers to pity him, contrary to you wanting your readers to hate your bad guy with a vengeance. So take the time to think about how you want to portray your bad guy.

That is the end of my bad guys "series". I'm afraid if I said I'd do another one it would be awhile before you saw it. ☺

So what so you think makes a good bad guy?

"First Person" writing

The first time I ever even heard of "first person" writing was when I read Suzanne Collins book The Hunger Games. It inspired me to look at how I write and how to approach a character. Because you will never get the same perspective of a character when it comes from the character itself. But what exactly is writing in "first person"? To explain I will show you an example of both "first person" and "third person" writing. I would include "second person" but it's pretty much impossible to write in. The two examples:

Third Person

This kind of writing is the most common in books. It looks at the characters from an outside view as if you are looking into the story. The main character is referred to as (he, his, her, she, it, and they) outside of when characters are talking with each other. And it looks like this:

"Carefully, Aidan untied the lace around the first scroll. As he unrolled it specks of parchment fell to the bed. He caught his breath, fearing the scrolls might be so ancient and brittle that they would crumble to dust if opened.
(taken from "The Door Within" by Wayne Thomas Batson.)

First Person

This kind of writing is not as common but just as fun. First person, sort of, allows you to dwell in the main characters body throughout the book. It takes a look at the problems and situations in the books from the main characters perspective, and looks something like this:

"My dearest friend decided to arrive at the exact moment I was swallowing my sugar cookies down the wrong tube.
COUGH!
"OH, dear, oh dear, dear me. Are you alright?" This was the question my friend decided to insult me with. For anyone who is on her three thousand dollar couch and coughing up numerous amounts of cookie is most likely not, all right! But for the sake of my dignity I put on a smile and swept the cookie mush onto my carpet (the one from India).
(taken from "Nothing of Consequences" by yours truly and my friend, Libby. This short story is not finished)

Both of these styles are so fun to write. And I encourage you to try both of them out.

Any comments or questions? I'd LOVE to hear them

Rowen

Hello, everybody. I would like you to meet, Rowen. She is the main character in my fantasy story. My dear character is a short tempered 17 year old human. But she does have a big heart for those in need. She loves the outdoors and has a pet hedgehog.

Thank you to:

- My sister Rebekah for taking the photo's.

- My friend Libby for giving me the cape for my birthday. And guess what, you can get one too, she sells them here.

So have you ever dressed up as a character? I would love to hear about it!

Bad Guys

What would a story be without bad guys? Well, kind of boring. (Although there are some very good story that wouldn't have worked with a bad guy).

Funny enough the bad guys are some of my favorite characters, as long as they are well written. There are many different kinds of bad guys I have found, (from both books I've read and movies I've watched), some of them are:

Power hunger bad guys: Such as Opal from the 'Artemis Fowl' series (a series I will be reviewing). This kind of bad guy is a character that becomes obsessed over power.

No mercy bad guys: Such as Culney the Rat (from Redwall, a wonderful series) or Capricorn from Inkheart. Bad guys who give no mercy and have no hearts.

Annoying bad guys: Everyone has there own 'annoying bad guys' list, and each one is completely different. In my 'annoying bad guy' category is, The Sheriff of Nottingham (from the BBC TV version of Robin Hood) is one of many I have in this category.

Oddball bad guys: I reserved this category for more kid character bad guys, such as the Red Queen (from Alice in Wonderland) and Cinderella's ugly step-mother. A (normally) jealous character that would not bring his/herself to kill, but makes everyone else miserable.

Secret bad guys: Now these bad guys are ones you don't know are bad guys at first. But, of course, their true nature becomes known in the end. I won't give any examples for this category, I would hate to ruin a book someone was planning on reading. ☺

Now a bad guy doesn't have to be in only one of these categories, in fact many are in more than one.

What are some of your favorite bad guys?

Part 2 on bad guys will be coming soon.

Getting To Know Your Characters

In a book you want your characters to be real, to be someone your readers can connect with. But in order for that to happen you need to connect with them first.


Believe it or not you can actually grow distant with your characters just like real people. So what do you do when you know your character still hasn't forgiven you, for what ever reason. Or you just never clicked with your main character. If you can't click with a character chances are your readers won't either.


-Sometimes you just need to say goodbye. You may find that changing or cutting the character was a good thing to do. Who knows, maybe they will appear in another one of your stories.


-While in more fortunate times you just need to get to know your character. So just go and grab yourself some coffee (or tea), get a notepad, and ask some questions. Since your character can't really speak, you need to for him/her. Think up some questions and think how your character would answer. And if that doesn't work you can always:


-Be your character. Have some fun and get all dressed up as your character and try to look at the world through his/her eyes. I know it sound silly but it's really fun and beneficial.

Although these are not the most professional ways to get to know your characters, these have worked for me. ☺

How to Make a Good Character

Not my photo

Tips on how to make a good character:

-Make the character believable, which means not perfect. Give him or her faults, hopes, dreams and wishes.

-Don't be afraid to hurt your character. I know this sounds mean, but if your main character had no problems or worries that would be really boring. Give him/her a trial, an important decision, or a accident.

-Layer your character. Make him/her interesting and complex.

-Base your character off someone you know. ☺ Now this is one method I've been using for a couple years now. The benefit being, that by basing a character off a real person, you can make him/her very believable. (Remember to respect peoples privacy if they don't want you to write about them.)

Look out for part 2 on characters.