Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Fiction: getting to know your characters

Miss Potter is a lovely gem of a movie. If you haven't seen it, rent it as soon as you can. It's a must-watch for novelists.

In it, Beatrix Potter knows her characters. They are real to her.

Without giving away the plot of the movie, there's a time when Beatrix can't draw or write. She's close to a breakdown. Watch what happens with her characters in the scene where she's trying to  write: it's truthful.

So how do you get to know your characters as well as Beatrix does hers?

You get to know them the same way you get to know people: you live with them, talk to them, listen when they talk to you.

You write down snippets of information about their history and their daily life. You journal about them and care what happens to them.

When you begin working with characters, you will "make them up." But as you continue to live with them, they will become as real to you as all the other people in your life. They will then become real to your readers too.

Discover more about creating characters which live in your heart, and your readers'.

Technorati Tags: fiction

NaNoWriMo: time management so you can write a book in a month

Writing a novel is FUN. If you love to write, then covering a notepad or computer screen with words is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Or off, come to that. :-)

With NaNoWriMo just a couple of weeks away, I posted "It's write-a-novel time again - here comes NaNoWriMo" with some links to some NaNoWriMo QuickStarts I wrote last year.

But know what? You don't need all that preparation. What you need is TIME. Nothing will derail your NaNoWriMo efforts faster than not having time.

I suggest that you clear a block of time either at the end of the day or at the beginning of the day, depending on whether you write better at night, or early in the morning.

For NaNoWriMo month, that hour or two is sacrosanct: you'll need to protect this time like a mama bear protecting her cub from others in your household, and from yourself too.

If you're going to tackle NaNoWriMo, tell yourself that no matter what, you'll show up for yourself and your writing each day.

So start thinking about how you'll clear that block of time now: it's vital to your success.

Good luck. :-)

Technorati Tags: NaNoWriMo

It's write-a-novel time again - here comes NaNoWriMo

It seems just a little while ago that the madness was over, but here we are again - it's NaNoWriMo time...

I've already  covered NaNoWriMo extensively in previous years, so here are some links for your enjoyment -

NaNoWriMo QuickStart 1: Pick a genre

NaNoWriMo QuickStart 2. Be a squirrel

NaNoWriMo QuickStart 3: Character professions

NaNoWriMo QuickStart 4: Write a character journal

NaNoWriMo QuickStart 5: Interview your hero and heroine

NaNoWriMo QuickStart 6: Gear up with storyboards

That should keep you happily engaged until the big day. :-)

Technorati Tags: NaNoWriMo

Got a novel? Cash in with Amazon.com's Breakthrough Novel Award

Money for writers is always welcome. :-)

Amazon.com: Breakthrough Novel Award: Books reports: "Are you a writer longing to be discovered? Submit your manuscript for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. It’s the perfect opportunity to become the next great novelist: the winning author will receive a publishing contract from Penguin Group, including promotional support for their book on Amazon.com, and a media suite from Hewlett-Packard. All entrants are eligible to self-publish their novel with CreateSpace and sell it on Amazon.com. Enter your manuscript for consideration by November 5, 2007!"

How much do you win? Publishers Marketplace says:

Amazon's contest promises the largest field of potential entrants--they'll accept up to 5,000 unpublished manuscripts between now and November 5--and the biggest prize, which includes a publishing contract with the Penguin Group for an advance of $25,000, plus some lovely gifts from Hewlett Packard.

If you haven't started your novel yet, it's too late for this one. However, since there are so many novel contests at the moment, it's a real clue that publishers are struggling to find talent. So get writing. :-)

Fiction: free course on how to write your novel

A few days ago I found this amazing resource, and have been reading it with delight. Novelists Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer are writing a year-long novelist's workshop, He Wrote, She Wrote. It's both fun and enlightening. Whether you're writing your first novel, or your tenth, you'll love it.

Fiction secrets: getting to know your characters

Characters are at the heart of your short story or novel. You need to understand them to bring them to life.

I admit I've rarely bothered to develop characters for my novels before I start a first draft. The "what color eyes/ education/ hobbies/ clothing" character sheets bore me witless. I start my stories knowing what the character's challenge is, and his history. That's all. I develop characters as I write.

Although this works sometimes, I often end up with characters I don't  understand. They're shadows living in a ghostly world. I journal about them, and write their diaries, but I rarely feel that I'm getting under a character's skin: getting to understand what makes a character tick.

But there's this woman...

I've had this character and her story skittering around in my imagination for weeks. This woman won't leave. She's constantly at the back of my mind, and I can't stop thinking about her.

Great, yes? Obviously I'm meant to write this woman's story. But I don't want to. I've got quite enough writing to do. The thought of investing months in a story which withers and dies scares me.

Well, praise the lord and pass the ammunition, when I downloaded Holly Lisle's Create A Character Clinic I found the solution. The book's amazing. I've only been working with it for a few hours, but I can see that it will help me to write my  skittering-woman's story. I now know something of who she is - and how to discover more about her life and her world before I start the first draft.

I've admired Holly's work and her commitment to it for years, and "Holly Lisle’s Create A  Character Clinic: A Step-By-Step Course for the Fiction Writer" goes far beyond what I expected. I never considered that Maslow's hierarchy of needs could be helpful in developing characters. Holly shows you exactly how to use them, and much more.

Thank you Holly, great stuff.

Technorati Tags: fiction

A writers' fear: What if they don't publish your novel?

When you're writing a novel, it sometimes hard to keep your mind on your writing.

Doubts creep in. What if your novel never gets published?

I received a panicky email this week from a writing colleague who's riddled with angst about her current novel. She's bogged down in the middle of the book. Her inspiration's long gone, her characters seem wooden, her plot seems  contrived, and she's ready to hit the Delete key and send the whole mess into oblivion.

More novels are junked at page 143 than at any other time. Don't hit Delete.

Panicking is allowed. Stopping writing isn't.

If you're stuck in the middle of your novel too, please realize that it's normal: expected even. At least once in a novel, you'll hit a wall, and you won't want to go on.

Here are some tips which may help:

* Realize that you're not thinking straight: you're tired. You're not capable of assessing what's "good" and what isn't right now;

* If you're rereading obsessively, stop rereading. Just keep writing;

* Chunk the remainder of the novel. Write one scene at a time, and forget everything else. Write one word, one paragraph at a time, but keep going. You may not be capable of your usual daily output for a week or two. Be satisfied with a little progress. If you can only write 50 words a day, so be it. Just keep going at that rate;

* Tell yourself that yes, it's all garbage, and that you may throw it out, but you can only do that when you finish;

* Change the Point of View. If you're writing in first person, change to third person POV for a chapter. This will sometimes be enough to break whatever's damming up the flow of the book.

Good luck; keep writing. :-)

Technorati Tags: books, fiction, novel

Mac novelists rejoice! Jer's Novel Writer is out of beta

Mac novelists are spoiled for choice when it comes to great writing software, and now the fabulous Jer's Novel Writer is out of beta.

If you're contemplating NaNoWriMo this November, you've got time to think up great plots and characters.

Here's a quick list of features in Jer's Novel Writer:

Margin Notes
Automatic Outline
Database
Full Screen Mode
Bookmarks
Separate formatting options for print and screen
It actually knows what a chapter is (or whatever organizational structure you want to use).
A panel for general notes lets you keep track of story issues and ideas (and the last time you ate).
Word count
More accurate page count estimates
Better performance than most word processors for really, really big documents.

Technorati Tags: fiction, NaNoWriMo, novel, writers' software

Weekend Writer: One-Minute Fiction - A Character And A Problem

One minute fiction is great fun. The idea is to write a story of 500 words fast. You start out with a character who has an immediate problem on which he/ she must act... Unless the character acts right away, there will be dire consequences.

One-minute fiction helps you to develop good fiction writing habits, because the keyword for effective fiction is - ACTION. Some new writers write stories about "thinking heads". Nothing much happens, but the characters think. These stories are impossible to read, much less sell, because there's no drama. One-minute fiction breaks you of this habit.

So this weekend, create a character with a problem, and have him/ her take action on it. Have fun. :-)

Technorati Tags: fiction

Fiction: Collect settings, the more unusual the better

When you start writing fiction, it seems that there's a lot to need to track. One of the most important aspects of your fiction can get lost in the shuffle: your locations - your settings for your story.

Settings are vital. If you place a character in a setting, how he reacts will tell you much about him.

Create a "Settings" section of your writers' journal. Pretend you’re a location scout for a movie.

For the next two weeks, wherever you go, write a short entry in your journal describing the key points of your location.

A "location" can be anywhere. Your workplace, a restaurant, the mall - anywhere and everywhere you go. If you get into the habit of recording locations, it will become second nature to you, and you'll find all your writing easier, because you've become more observant.

Technorati Tags: fiction