When Characters and Writers Dream
I have it on good authority (several writing books, an agent blog or two, etc) that starting a story having the character wake up from a dream has been done to death (and so they please ask us to refrain). We mostly self-educated writers look to these authorities for guidelines. Are they just guidelines or [...]
The best part about being a writer…
Well. Well, well, well. Lillian surprised the hell out of me. Not only are we through the big event scene, I was totally unprepared for how it went down. It’s one of my favorite things about writing fiction. I never know where the characters will take me.
She whined for a few days about going back [...]
Too many threads to the story
I’m coming up on the final scene angst. Can I make it dramatic enough? Will there be enough tension? I’ve slowed down, playing with scene order, trying to figure out where chapter breaks fall. I blame a lot of this on my MC, especially in light of the conversation we had this weekend:
Me: Enough. Don’t [...]
One Character’s Character
So my current main character is Anna. I’m still exploring Anna’s personality and she’s still surprising me with bits of background and quirks she had forgotten to mention, like her fanatical love for speed.
Whenever I’m in doubt about details, I hop on the web and start looking. Only the car really mattered; the rest was [...]
Didn’t see that one coming…
Author: You. Are. A Dumbass.
Supporting Character: How do you figure?
Author: You just let her walk away from you.
SC: Well, things haven’t been going well. I’m not happy.
Author: You let the best thing to happen to you just walk away.
SC: She expected too much! She–
Author: She loves you. You love her. The two of you compliment [...]
