Character Interviews/ Guest post with Jillian

Hello everyone! My name is Jillian and I blog over at www.coversandink.blogspot.com. Brooke contacted me to see if I wanted to write a guest post on characters. Hope you enjoy :)

Characters are a crucial part of writing. If you don't develop your characters enough, your writing will fall flat, even if you have an incredible plot and a stellar writing voice. Readers want to care deeply for the characters; they want to meet new friends within the pages of books. Why would readers want to waste their time reading about people they don't care about?

It's imperative to develop your characters so well that they leap off the page. But how should you go about this? While there are several different ways to get into your character's minds, I highly recommend character interviews. I feel there's no better way to understand your character than asking them direct questions. Go beyond the obvious physical traits (hair color, eye color, body type) and ask your character deeper questions. What is their biggest fear? What lie do they believe about themselves? What's their worst childhood memory?

Even if it sounds silly, character interviews are a tremendous way to learn about your characters. I complete interviews for each main character before beginning a new story. Not only do they help you learn more about your character's personality, but they also help develop your character's voice, which is another necessary part of writing. 
Have you tried interviewing your characters? What method works best for you when developing characters?

Thanks for having me, Brooke!

Favorite Characters

I just read a post at Inklings the other day. It was about how most of the time our favorite characters are the boys.
What do you think? I had to totally agree.

I found this picture of him at a character interview

My favorite character ever is Luca from The River of Time series. He is funny, brave, loyal, and just a good guy. Of course he does live back in the Medieval times, so that has a bit to do with his awesome character.

Why do you think we tend to like the guys more? I think it's because we're girls (I assume boys don't hang out here, but if you do that's awesome!) and as girls we can relate to the girls in the books, but as we get older we tend to pay more attention to the boys. How handsome they are, their personality, and is he the type of guy I would want to marry? That kind of stuff. ;)

Have you read this series? Who was your favorite character? And who is your all-time favorite character from any book? Do you agree with me?

Brookie

Writing Contests

I love writing contests. So I've decided that once we have ten followers, we'll start doing writing contests. So if you want us to start doing contests, but you haven't become a member yet, become one!!

Can't wait!!

Also, I'm putting up a new page. If you have writing you would like to share then leave it there. :) We promise to check it out.

I need help!!

So...

At Christmas time, my family asked me to write a book. They already thought of the name, but nothing else. So I need some help. Desperately.

So the name they thought of is the Cookie Conspiracy. Yeah, it was Christmas time and we were eating a lot of cookies. :)

But I have no ideas for it as of yet. All I have in mind so far is that it's going to be a mystery. But other than that... Well...

If you have any ideas leave them in the comments section. And if this is ever good enough to publish and I choose one of your ideas, I'll thank you in the thanks section of the book. :) That's if it ever publishes. I might self-publish if I think it's good enough. So let those ideas come!!

Thanks so much!! Brookie

Your character is not you

Hey all,

 I have a problem were I like to make me characters. You know when your character goes through something and their reaction would have been your reaction. Yeah... I tend to do that a lot.

But hey! There's a solution.



You stand on your head and count to ten, while rubbing your belly with one hand. Just kidding. ;) And it's a good thing too, I can barely stand on my head, let alone rub my belly at the same time. ;P

You get to know your characters. Personally I don't like character journals and interviews. But I've heard those work great for a lot of people. But those just don't work for me.
So I like to have a sort of obstacle course. I have scenes in my head -some they most likely won't go through- and I write out their thoughts and actions on what's happening.

Owyn drew this picture of A' Mercy

 

Here's an example of A' Mercy, one of the main characters in Owyn's and my current WIP: (This isn't something that happens in the book, but these are thoughts she thinks often)

A' Mercy looked at Barrak as he ran toward a man with his sword drawn and scowled. She always felt like she was just a tag-along. Just because she was more feminine than Arin didn't mean she wasn't up to the job of taking out a few highwaymen. They knew she was deadly with her bow, but shoved her to safety instead. Everyone was always trying to help the poor orphan girl. Well, she would help whether they liked it or not.

A' Mercy feels this way a lot. Sure, I sometimes feel this way. -Of course I'm not an orphan in a different world, trying to save it- But A' Mercy is going to act on it. She has more of a temper than me. And she is my first character I've ever kept, so... No, I know I don't have an excuse. But what can I say? I'm guilty, but people who don't read this post will never know. So, shh... ;)

But this is her personality, it just seems to fit her. That's the excuse I'll use.

Do you have any characters that are too much like you? How can you change that? Or do you have an excuse like mine?

Have a great weekend!! Brookie

Brain Strikes

Have you ever had a time when your normally wild imagination drys up? Were your brain goes on strike? And that blank page stares at you. Daring you to write something.

 Well, that's what mine is doing. I can't write anything, unless it's super boring and stupid. See what I mean? Do you think this post is boring? I do. So I'll apologize now for my brain, she's away right now.



But, no matter how annoying these times are. They are good for us. Brookie say what? I said they are good for us. Good for giving us patients, for teaching us what to do when we're published and our brains go on strike, for showing us that we aren't always in control.

I know. I know. It still doesn't make these times any more fun. : /

But here is my advice:

Write anyways. Even if it's the most stupid stuff you've ever read, write it. Eventually your brain will notice how terrible a job you are doing without it and help you.

Read. When I read, I get a million stupid ideas. Oh I could write such and such a book, and this and blah, blah, blah. But it gets your brain moving, even if it's not exactly in ship shape. ;P

Daydream. Remember my post on daydreaming? If not go check it out. :)

Don't watch TV. You will only want to sit there all day eating popcorn (If you don't have braces) It's only an excuse for not writing. And I'm not saying I haven't used it. : /

Don't beat yourself up. I know, I've been doing it all day. But...

And remember, We are doing this for the glory of God. ;)

Brookie

Plots

 Hello all! We have a guest post from my friend Alyssa. Thanks Alyssa!

Hello Everybody,

          Today we are going to focus on a very important part of every novel: the plot. You have probably already thought up your characters, places, and animals for your book, but you can't seem to figure out a good story. A plot is what captivates readers, and what will keep them reading till the end because they love the story.
 Now keep in mind that not all books have plots. Biographies for example, usually don't have plots. But fiction books almost always have them. So if you are writing fiction, then this is a post for you. :)

 What is a plot?

 Wikipidia says it's:

 Plot: Noun one, the main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interlaced sequence.

And,

 Plot (Narrative) Is a literary term defined as the events that make up a story, particular as they relate to one another in a pattern, in a sequence, through cause and effect, how the reader views the story, or simply by coincidence. One is generally interested in how well this pattern of events accomplishes some artistic or emotional effect.

Probably the most popular plot is:

Good Guy + Bad Good=Bad Guy wants to do something bad, Good Guy fights, and the Good Guy wins. (Think of most super hero type books or movies)

Other plots could be:

Good Guy+Good Guy turned bad

Friend+Friend who disagree

Bad Guy+Bad Guy turned good

Once you figure out the plot you want to use, fit your characters, places and other miscellaneous into it and go write!!

 ~Alyssa Monk

P.S. Alyssa has a blog called Bits and Spurs if anyone wants to check it out!! It's on the blog page.