Archive for ‘characters’

February 29th, 2012

Plots Are Hard

by Holly Dodson

As I mentioned on Monday, this week I’ve been focusing my writing-related-task on outlining these stories in my head.  (Among other things, naturally.  I’ve also read two really great books this week so far, and am beta reading.  I enjoy staying busy. lol)

I’ve come to the simple conclusion that plots are hard.  Very hard.  Elusive even.  It may have been only Monday that I was banging my fists on the desk as I complained that I have a head full of characters and nothing to do with them, and what good are characters without plot?!

http://www.robinchung.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/frustration.jpg

*sigh*

One character in particular is driving me absolutely crazy.  I’ve had a couple of false-starts (THREE so far) with her, but still can’t get her right, and she still refuses to leave me alone.  Any time I try to work on another character, another idea, she barges to the front screaming, “What about me?”  Then I have to fight off the urge to shake her when I say, “Then tell me your story.”  But all she does is glare at me, her eyes smoldering from the intensity of whatever it is she’s hiding, with lips shut tight.

ARGH!  She makes me feel like a crazy person.

I have found a good method for getting my ideas detailed and fleshed out though.  Remember that five-page outline I mentioned Monday?  Yep.  Here’s my basic approach to that (Which, I’ve written three now, so maybe it’ll stick.  Who knows.)

TITLE Outline:

Chapter 1

  1. Hello, protag.  Nice to meet you, let’s get you into some trouble.
  2. Protag goes to school and is assaulted by a flying unicorn.
  3. Protag fights back, discovering some secret hidden power for defending himself against flying unicorns.

Chapter 2

  1. Protag escapes to a safe place.
  2. Protag needs help, he has to find Weird Old Man Who Always Says Weird Things.
  3. Weird Old Man’s house is even weirder than the man himself.

Etc.  You get the idea, right?  For each chapter I detail out who is in it, what happens, the conflict, and the motivation.  This is why they wind up about five pages long.  ;)

This is most definitely ten steps farther than the last outline I worked with.  And I’ll be honest and say I haven’t used it to write a book yet, but I will.  I like that this way I can detail out, in advance, the arc of each chapter.  Each chapter becomes a story within itself with a beginning, middle, and end and I don’t have to try to revise that in (like I’ve done many, many times before).

This way I have the opportunity to see where my plot is going to fall apart before I ever start writing, and can fix it.  Or redo it — without losing 10k words.  Been there, done that.

So do you guys have any plotting tips for me?  What do you do to get those characters to spill their stories?

 

Also, you may want to hop over to the SS&D ARC Tour page…there is a little bit of a surprise there!  Like, maybe another contest?  Hurry, go see!

Categorycharacters, outlining, Susan Dennard, Writing | Comment10 Comments »

October 13th, 2011

Character Development

by Holly Dodson

So, number one on my revision list for my WIP is character development.  Not necessarily for the main character either, though she’ll get her share of attention.

Right now, I’m focusing on my supporting characters and how to bring their personalities to life without bogging the story down.

That’s a tall order to fill, and probably one of the most important.

What did I do?  Well, I made a spreadsheet of course.  ;)

I’m not sure if you can see that very well, but it’s a quick-reference sheet of sorts. I have physical traits, age, interests, and the GMC (Goal, Motivation, Conflict) for each character listed for easy reference. So when I’m revising, I have my bullet list of what I’m looking to add/change, and my one-page spreadsheet on characters. That way if I hit a spot and go, hmm, would Blair really say this here? I can glance at the list and know my Yale-bound mathlete probably would not.

And it’s funny how the smallest changes can have such a large impact on the sound and overall presentation of a character.  It’s not even necessarily about what they say so much as how they say it sometimes.  :)

What do you do to help define characters?  Any tips you’d like to share with me? 

Categorycharacters, revisions, Writing | CommentNo Comments »

August 15th, 2011

Character Q&A

by Holly Dodson

We somehow survived the zombie virus that infected our house last week.  It was a close call though.  ;)   I suppose that means Super Spawn and I will be among the last standing survivors for the new world?  Yes?

Or maybe I live in books too much.  lol

Anyway, while I was nursing poor Super Spawn, before I became infected, I was working on something new for me: a character worksheet.  I know, this whole planning things is going to my head.  But I found it kind of fun.

It felt more like I was sitting down interviewing my characters one by one and getting to know them before we get into the thick of our adventure together.  NEWS FLASH: this is good.  (Well, it’s good for me.)

I asked them things like what their favorite past-time was, who they hated the most at school.  Then, since this is a group of friends that have known each other forever, I asked them to give one word descriptions of each other.  That was a very telling experience and I got a good feel for their mannerisms and how they interacted with that exercise.

And I sound super NUTS like I’m sitting in a circle chatting with these invisible teens.  I SWEAR I’M NOT CRAZY.  Er, not that crazy.  I was really just filling out a spreadsheet, I promise.

What about you guys, do you spend quality time with your characters before you ever start writing, half-way through, or do you get to know them as you go?  And most importantly, do you feel it helps or hinders you?

I’ve always been a get to know them as I go girl, but again with this whole outline take on things — I’m feeling like getting to know them better early on is going to help with voice and such, which means less revisions later.

Categorycharacters, WIP, Writing | CommentNo Comments »

April 20th, 2011

Road Trip Wednesday — Smooches Galore

by Holly Dodson

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered.

This Week’s Topic:
Compare your first kiss with your favorite characters first kiss.
Oh boy.  Who do I choose to compare with?  Hmm.  That’s hard…I don’t have a very good memory for little details like that in a book.  Unless it’s Harry Potter which I’ve read so many times I’ve practically memorized it.  So I guess I’ll go with Ron and Hermione.  They’re two of the best characters, like, ever anyway.  ;)

Well, my first kiss was nothing to write home about.  Where Ron and Hermione’s had years worth of build up and liking each other, but not wanting to act on it because omgwhatifhehatesme.  Mine was…sudden.  I’d just met the guy actually. lol  He kind of attacked me, and I just stood there in shock.

Wet, slobbery shock.

*shudder*

He was a funny guy…very dramatic.  If I remember correctly after shocking me with a kiss he dropped to one knee and asked me to date him.  lol   I’m sure I turned beet red, because if I remember correctly this was done in front of all of our friends. (And remembering it, I can’t seem to stop giggling.)

R & H’s first kiss was much more tender and sweet.  Mine was just the byproduct of an overzealous baseball player.  Ha.

What about yours?

Categorycharacters, kissing, RTW, YAHighway | CommentNo Comments »

December 6th, 2010

Know Your Characters

by Holly Dodson

Do you ever catch yourself thinking about the implications of a seemingly insignificant decision?  Not just directly, but how each affect could spiral into millions of effects?  It can be mind boggling to consider.

I’ll confess to something…I’m regularly told what a good listener I am, and I’m not at all.  My mind wanders.  I think about motivations, consequences.  My thoughts fly off into the worst possible direction.  Disaster.  Chaos.  What would everyone do, how would it feel?

Maybe it’s just because I like to torture myself, I don’t know.  But when I write, I pull from these thoughts.  These random snatches of conversation that fueled so much more than a “The weather sure is nice” response from my brain.

I also like to sit and think about my characters this way.  I know what happens next in the story, yes, but what would have happened if they had chosen another path?  Do they wish they had?  Do they ever wonder? 

Maybe this is all a bunch of garbled nonsense because I’m tired and have to be up in five hours for work.  (Yes, I’m writing this ahead of time. ;) Although I waited until the last moment to do so. lol)

Each of our lives have evolved to where they are through a complicated web of decisions.  Choices.  Seemingly insignificant points in our lives that can change our entire future.  My future changed with a phone call, a cancellation.  Along with a couple, again insignificant, choices and I wound up meeting the man that would become my husband…the man that would turn my whole world upside down and shake it like a snow globe.

Can you find the moments where your characters became who they are?  It may be something huge…a tragic event.  Or it may be something as simple as a phone call.  Something your story never even mentions.  But do you know what it is? 

If not, maybe you should find it.  Truly knowing your characters gives more than life to your story…it gives it soul.

Categorycharacters, Writing | Comment8 Comments »

November 9th, 2010

Checking In

by Holly Dodson

How are all those NaNoWriMo’s out there doing?  Everybody hitting their word count?

For those not doing NaNo this year, how are the WIP’s?  Revising?  Editing?  Finishing up that painful first draft?

My WIP is going well, the first chapter has been handed off to an alpha reader, and I’m hard at work trying to shape the ending.  Urgh, the ending.  My lovely characters always seem to get particularly prickly toward the ending of my first drafts.  They think it’s funny to snicker and pass secrets amongst themselves instead of moving the story forward.  They know where it’s going, I know where it’s going, but they’re like a pack  of three-year-olds who have decided they don’t want to do something.

Sometimes I tell them, “You are as bad as Super Spawn!  Get off your butt!”  But they just laugh at me.  It’s a game.

I’ve got one chapter left to finish up the WIP, and get the ending where I want it.  One chapter.  And my characters turn toddler.  *headdesk*

Do you guys have these kinds of problems?  I had lunch with a writer friend (who writes adult fiction) on Saturday and we talked about this.  She said it’s the same for her, the endings are always the hardest to write.  So I wanna know what you think, lovelies.  Weigh in!

Categorycharacters, WIP, Writing | Comment6 Comments »

September 22nd, 2010

Road Trip Wednesday

by Holly Dodson

Time for Road Trip Wednesday!!

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and we answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic:

If you went to school with your characters, would you be friends?

In Emerald’s Keeper fourteen year old Mandy is a freshman in high school. Honestly, she’s the kind of friend I wish I’d found when I was fourteen.

Believe it or not I was a painfully shy teenager. I didn’t start opening up until I was maybe a Junior, but more-so as a Senior in high school. So if I could have mustered up the courage to even approach Mandy — yeah, I’d have been her friend.

My newest WIP is about a sixteen year old girl named Kate. Now Kate is the type of girl I’d have wished I was friends with. She speaks her mind and isn’t afraid to tell someone off. She’s fun and spunky…everything I wanted to be as a teen but didn’t have the guts to pull off. So I’d have pretty much worshiped her from afar.

What about you guys? Would you have been friends with your characters in high school?

Categorycharacters, manuscript, RTW, Writing, YAHighway | Comment4 Comments »