Blog Chain - What Do You Remember?

This round, the fabulous Shannon hit us with a great question:

Imagine this: when you're gone, readers will remember your writing most for just one of these things: your characters, your plots, your settings, or your style. Which one (only one!) would you prefer over the rest? Why?

I read this question and thought "heck, if people just read me, I'm thrilled" :D And if they remembered me for any of the above, then every second of every minute I spent writing would be worth it.

In order to answer this question, I thought back over the authors I love and what it is about their stories that stick with me. And it's the characters. The settings are in there in some cases (Diana Gabaldon created AMAZING settings in her Outlander series...I can close my eyes even years later and still see every setting in her books. Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games and Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth series are also both series where the settings really stuck with me.)

But mostly...it's the characters, and as Christine said, their relationships with each other. Jaime and Claire in the Outlander series, Trent and Jocelyn in The Braeswood Tapestry (one of my all time fave historical romances), the characters in Victoria Holt's gothic romances, Katniss, Min (my character :D ), and yes, even Bella, Edward and Jacob. Those characters are who I think about long after I've closed the book. They are what make me feel a little depressed when I've finished a good book. I miss them. I want to know what happens to them AFTER the story.

And that is what I'd love for people to take away from my stories. I'd love for them to be thinking about Min long after they've left her story behind. I'd love for them to wonder about Kesi and Ronan, think back to Cilla and Brynne and Lucy and daydream new stories for them. I want to create characters that my readers can't forget :)

What about you? What do you want people to remember about your writing?

Don't forget to go back and see what Laura wants you to remember and stop by Shaun's to read his response tomorrow :D

You Mean I'm Not Normal?

Okay, it doesn't look like my word count has changed at all, but I've actually been working quite steadily all week. I just, uh, switched WIPs for a teeny tiny second :D I couldn't help it. One of my finished novels was screaming at me for another revision and I just couldn't ignore it. But, if all goes well, I'll be finished in another week or two and then it's back to work on the new WIP - I pinky promise :D

In the meantime, I have a question for everyone - do you ever wish you WEREN'T a writer?

I've read enough blogs and talked to enough writers that I think I can safely say that most of us don't really feel a choice in the matter. Oh sure, we might have chosen to try and get published. But many of us were writing long before that decision was made and would continue to write even if publication would never be an option.

So, do you ever wish your crazy Muse had just left you the heck alone?

I had a moment yesterday where I did feel this way. It surprised me, to be honest. I've had stressful moments and moments where I've literally been in tears for some reason or the other. But I've never really wished things were any different than they were.

But for a split second, I thought "It would be nice if I wasn't a writer." My house would be clean. I'd spend more time with my kids. My spare moments would be spent relaxing, my nights wouldn't be filled with sleepless hours while my crazy brain spun out a million ideas. I'd just be a normal mom.

LOL It was also the first time I realized I truly don't consider myself "normal." Oh, I've joked about it before. But to really, truly, deep down to the marrow of my soul think I was NOT normal. I think this was the first time.

I have friends who are normal. Their houses are clean, their laundry is always done, their kids never watch more than an hour of t.v. a day, and I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure their minds are occasionally quiet enough for them to just BE. They live life without feeling the compulsion to write about it. They see the dishes as a chore, not a brainstorming session. I see people like this every day and it's a weird concept. Like the idea of a billion dollars. I know that much money exists. But I've never seen it. It's hard to fathom. Being "normal" is hard to fathom.

My moment passed very quickly (shoved away by my MC demanding that I sit and work on her story some more, which I was literally giddy to do). I really wouldn't want to be anything else. I love being a writer. Every crazy, roller coaster second of it. But every now and then.....yeah.....

Do you ever have a "what if" moment?

Tutor Tuesday - Looking at Characters

First of all, happy 7th birthday to my little boy!!!! Can't believe how old he's getting :) 

Second, welcome to Tutor Tuesdays :D With the release of my non-fiction book fast approaching, (and since I closed down my other blog) I decided I'd devote one day a week to non-fiction matters, including writing tips for essays, papers and other NF things (memoirs, narratives, and anything else you can think of). Just a little non-fiction info to spice up the place :D

Our recent awesome Blogging Experiment topic (on Writing Compelling Characters) reminded me of a post I did on my other blog about focusing on characters when writing analysis essays.

If you have to write a book report or an essay analyzing a work of literature (or even a film), looking at the characters in the piece is an excellent way to start.

Characters are one of the most important, if not THE most important, element in any work of literature. Without a character, there is no story. Even if the story is about a frog...that frog is your main character. So, characters are a great element to look at when analyzing a work of literature for a paper or essay. Here are some questions you could ask about the characters in the story:

• Who are the characters?
• Who is the main character?
• Who is the main villain?
• What qualities/vices/characteristics/quirks/mannerisms do these characters have?
• What do these characteristics do for a particular character?
• What is the author trying to show with a certain character? For example, is the extreme evilness of the main villain supposed to symbolize the evil side of mankind? Does it work? Why or why not? 
• Do the characters personify anything? Qualities/characteristics/feelings? For example, if you were analyzing a story about a girl named Hope who went up against a villain named Dr. Evil, do these characters exhibit the qualities of hope and evil? Is Hope an optimistic person, etc?
• What flaws do the characters have? Or are they too perfect?
• Are the characters believable? Can you relate to them? Are they likable, intriguing, mysterious? How do these qualities affect the story?

Look at the characters from every possible angle and analyze what each character brings to the story. Think about why they are a part of the story, what their presence does, or does not, do for the story.

This also applies to fiction - take a look at your own stories and ask yourself the questions above. Analyzing your characters the way an English student writing an essay would is a great way to make sure they are fleshed out, well-rounded, unique, and doing the job you need them to do.

Have you ever given your characters a good analysis?

   

Welcome to a Fabulous Few Weeks!

Happy Monday All!!

We've got lots of fun stuff coming up so I thought I'd give you a little heads up of what's ahead in the next couple weeks.

Starting tomorrow, I'm starting a new feature, Tutor Tuesdays - adding a little non-fiction flavor to the old blog.

Friday - the awesome Christine Fonseca's book, Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students, releases and I have the incredible honor (along with our CP and all around fabulous friend Elana Johnson) to be the first stop on her blog tour. Please join us!! There may just be an opportunity to win a free copy of her book ;-D

Next week, I am very excited to be hosting the amazing K.M. Weiland. She has a brand new CD for writers coming out, Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration. She'll be here on Monday the 4th with an interview, Wednesday the 6th with a guest post, and Tuesday and Thursday she has a few words of awesome advice for us. Friday's Funnies will be centered around the theme of inspiration and writer's block. Don't miss this amazing spotlight week!!

And on Friday October 15th, I'll be posting a review of Christine's book - and you really don't want to miss this day because Christine will be giving away some spectacular swag!

Be sure to join me for all the upcoming fantasticness!!!!

Did anyone do anything fun this weekend? Get some amazing wordage out? I....did nothing LOL Well, not entirely true. I did a few edits on the non-fiction. But mostly, yeah, I did nothing. It was lovely :D

Writing Compelling Characters

Huge blogging experiment day!!!! If you haven't checked out the incredible list of people participating in this yet, head to Elana's blog - just truly WOW.

So...how do I write compelling characters? My first drafts I really just sit down and write. My characters come out, start developing little quirks and foibles, and in revisions, I take a look at those and exploit them to the best of my ability :D

For instance, my very first main character, Min, was a clutz...if there was a puddle, she'd fall in it, if there was a table to run into, she'd be yelling ow, if there was some way to make a fool of herself, she did so. I love this about her. It makes her funny and gives the reader a reason to root for her. But I didn't want her to ONLY be a clutz.

So here is where my layering begins. I look at the other aspects of her personality and try to beef up other parts of her. She's highly intelligent, brave, curious - so I went through the story and made sure those aspects of her character were apparent.

One thing I learned from my CPs was to be consistent with my characters - the MC of my last book is a boxer. She's feisty. But I had a lot of sections in the book where that aspect of her character got lost. She wasn't reacting to certain situations the way a feisty boxer chick should react. So I had to go through and make sure she was being consistent to who she was.

Bottom line - I try to write characters that people will want to read about. Characters that are flawed and real, who do things and say things the way real people would. The character's main quirks and personality traits generally come through in the first draft. And then during my layering process I go back through and beef up other aspects of his or her personality to make sure they aren't one dimensional, so one trait doesn't overshadow who they are as a whole. And I make sure they are true to who they are.

Be sure to head to Elana's blog and check out all the other fabulous posts on this topic!!!

LAYERS - (for Vicki) :D

Friday Funnies

Any fool can take a bad line out of a poem; it takes a real pro to throw out a good line.

— Theodore Roethke

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education — sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.

— EB White

Nobody wants to see the village of the happy people.

— Lew Hunter

Thirty-three Word Thursday

An artist must approach his work consciously, but you are confusing two concepts: the solution of a problem and the correct formulation of a problem. Only the second is required of the artist. 

— Anton Chekhov