Question Your Inner Reader to be a Better Writer

It's easy to forget sometimes that writers should ALWAYS be voracious readers. Reading makes us better writers. Read everything, including books outside of your genre-bubble. Consume everything. Buy/Borrow every book. THEN EAT THE BOOK AND DIGEST ITS SOUL!

.....*ahem*

Looking at yourself as a reader can help you to better understand who you can be as a writer. Asking your inner reader questions can be a great way to teach yourself to be a superior storyteller. 

Here are some questions to get you started:

1. Why do I read?

2. What do the books I love have in common?

3. Who am I as a reader? What do I want out of a story?

4. If you could write like one author, who would you choose? Why?

5. What is one beginning AND ending (can be from different books) that has stuck out to you as a reader? What made them memorable for you?

6. What characters/fandom would you get in a duel over to defend their honor? Why?

I think you can see where I'm going with these questions. Look at your favorites, then look at why they're your favorites. Ask yourself how you can emulate those characteristics in your own writing. Interview yourself! Then be inspired by the stories you love and WRITE LIKE THE WIND, FRIENDS!

How to Write Rounded Characters (and Avoid the Disney Princess Paradigm)

Creating new characters is like giving birth. Minus the nine months of pregnancy, morning sickness, and the whole "push a human out of your lady tunnel" part. And, just as if they were your own children, it's normal to want your mind babies to be perfect and unflawed.

But, in novels, character with flaws are often the most compelling.

Early Disney princesses come to mind as being the opposite of compelling. They are totally flat. Flatter than a piece of cardboard that's been trampled by a herd of elephants.

Cinderella is perfect: perfectly kind and perfectly hardworking. Princess Aurora is perfect: perfectly sweet and perfectly elegant. Snow White is perfect: perfectly innocent and perfectly pure. You seeing the trend? I call it the "Disney Princess Paradigm." Stop clapping, Snow White, it's not a compliment!

Those are a lot of good and admirable traits, don't get me wrong. But that's the problem: they're too good. They're too perfect.

And the problem with being perfect is that there's very little room for growth. What did any of those princesses learn from their stories? Can you think of a single thing? Anything?... Bueller?... Bueller?

Nothing, right!?

Real people are flawed with insecurities, fears, jealousies, etc. For every trait at one end of the spectrum, there should be a number at the other. And it's these negative traits that necessitate character growth, that force a person to confront their flaws and overcome them. And sometimes it's these traits that a reader can connect with. There's something powerful in being able to relate, to see your own mistakes and reactions and flaws in someone else. So you *puts bossy pants on* HAVE to create engaging, well-rounded characters.

To ensure my characters have positive traits AND negative traits/flaws and to keep them unpredictable and layered, I came up with a method I call the "U-List Method."

I do this for each of my characters before I start writing (though it might change as the story is written and as characters fall more solidly into place). Here's what it looks like:

Take your characters (main and minor) and apply this method to them. Draw a U, or a horseshoe if you're feeling fancy, and make a list along the "U," positive traits on the left, neutral at the bottom, and negative to the right. Here's a great list of traits some kind soul has already categorized.
Make sure your character's u-list is well balanced in each of these areas. Having a number of positive, neutral, and negative traits gives characters three-dimension. And knowing your character's main traits can really help you to understand them and how they would act/respond to happenings in your story.

Remember: negative traits don't always mean your character is bad. A character that's stubborn might also mean that he/she doesn't follow the crowd. A character that seems overly-sensitive might also be more compassionate. Make your villain idealistic and honest, make your hero gullible and impatient.

To every coin there are two sides, the same can be said of personalities. And that's what makes people so interesting. And it's what will make your characters more interesting as well.

So go forth, my fellow wordfolk, and unleash your rounded character creations on the world!
 

~Be mindful of a person's strengths and weaknesses. Some strengths can be a flaw and some weaknesses a blessing.~

The Creative Process

WARNING: Long post is long.

Every author's writing process involves (or should involve... if not, how's that working out for ya?) these four basic steps: pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing. There are a variety of different ways to work through each of those steps and a number of other steps that go with them.
And while there's plenty of advice out there concerning the matter and what you should do, it's SUCH a subjective process--no one can tell you HOW to do it. And believe me, everyone tries. And there's this horrible misconception that if it works for THEM it HAS to work for you too. Nuh uh. No, sir. Don't buy into that.

Writing is an intimate process and you should develop your own way of getting from idea to the end. Which isn't to say you couldn't use someone else's process/routine as an example. But don't go getting addicted to laudanum just cause Dickens did. And because I don't want to be one of those people that tell you how you're SUPPOSED to do it, I'll just tell you what works for me/how I roll. And I'll tell you now--I like to wing it.

For most, the next big step after THE BIG IDEA (and the research that entails) is to create an...ugh...outline. I am not a fan of detailed outlines. THERE! I SAID IT! OUTLINES SUCK!

For me, outlines are like getting on a train. The train can only go where the tracks lead. There is no diversion, there are no spontaneous side trips, and while the views might be beautiful, you have to stay INSIDE the train at all times.

Likewise, if you follow an outline when you write, I think you miss out on some of the spontaneity that can come from just letting the words flow. Often, writers don't know their characters as well as they'd like until they've spent a good amount of time with them/writing them. And as they write, these characters should grow and make their own choices and throw a massive stick in the spokes of your outline wheel.

I think it's best to plan as little as possible, to leave room for the characters and the story to adapt to each other and start to take their own path. But, because people (professors, classmates, how-to books) kept telling me that I HAD/NEEDED to do an outline, I gave it a shot. Once.

In the beginning it felt good to have all the tracks laid out before me. All I had to do was set my locomotive on its way. But then came this humongous pressure to stick to those tracks from chapter to chapter. And then the writing became tedious and forced. But after writing such a detailed plan, it felt like if I strayed from the outline the story would implode on itself. I've never felt so creatively stifled in my life! Needless to say, I've not tried again since.

So here's an analogy for you: outlining is to "train tracking" as winging it is to ________.

You guess it? ROAADD TRIPPINNGG!

I love road trips. You have a general direction, a decided destination, but how you get there is completely up to you.

You want to stop and see the Nation's Largest Ball of Yarn? DO IT. You want to stop at that natural spring and go for a swim... NAKED? Oh, my. Scandalous. DO IT.

Oh? You thought you were getting away without a gratuitous Shia gif? Think again! 

There's a wonderful freedom to road tripping. Don't get me wrong, I still have a list for the big moments that need to happen in different acts of the novel (the best attractions to stop at on my road trip). But how I get to them is completely up to that creative flow.

Are you sick of the transportation metaphor yet? Yeah? Well then, here's my process in a nutshell:

1. Title (GASP! Shock and awe!)
2. Main Character + Plot
3. Research, Research, Research (which involves creating character bios, storybuilding, etc)
4. Plan my road trip
5. Write the damn thing (I edit as I go so this tends to be slow going, but also means I have less work     at the end)
6. 2nd Draft + Revisions
7. Betas + Critique Partners (and further revisions based on that feedback)
8. Send my little mind child out into the world and hope for the best.

Simple, right?

Like I said, and will say again, ignore everything you've read when it comes to developing your own process: all the how-to books, the many different processes of the already-famous, maybe even MY advice, and do what works for YOU! Especially for your routine. Feel out different things: cafe or library, music or silence, sitting at a desk or laying in bed, in the morning or at night, outline or no outline, train tracks or the open road (sorry, had to throw it in there one more time for good measure, #sorrynotsorry).

Do you, boo boo. Do you.

~Be mindful of the influence and opinions of others, stay true to yourself.~

Take it to Twitter

I'm pretty new to the twitter game. I resisted for sooo long. And now I'm HELLA miffed that I didn't join sooner! It's such an amazing resource for writers. Great for inspiration, connecting with other wordfolk, stalking potential agents, keeping up with your favorite authors, and participating in TWITTER PITCH CONTESTS! If you have a completed manuscript, these contests are great for testing the effectiveness of your pitch or challenging you to have the shortest query possible, getting down to the bones of your story!

#PitchWars
#PitchMadness       (these 3 events are hosted by Brenda Drake, author of Thief of Lies)
#PitMad
#FicFest                  (a brand new contest created by author and editor Tiffany Hoffman)
#DVPit                   (hosted by Beth Phelan for Marginalized Voices/Diverse Books)
#PitchCB                (hosted by Curtis Brown and Conville &Walsh)
#pg70pit                 (hosted by story coach and freelance editor Lara Willard)
#SFFpit                   (hosted by author and scientist Dan Koboldt)
#QueryKombat       (hosted by authors Laura Heffernan, Michael Anthony, and Michelle Hauck) 
#SonofaPitch          (hosted by author Katie Hamstead Teller)
#PitchSlam             (hosted by L.L. McKinney, Jamie Corrigan, Kimberly Vanderhorst, and Laura Heffernan)#PassorPages          (hosted by Operation Awesome)

These aren't ALL of the Twitter pitch contests/events. Just a few! Follow the hosts on Twitter to keep up with the rules and dates for each contest!

~Be mindful of the opportunities that lie outside the box.~ 

ONWARD! To the blogosphere!

THE FIRST POST! Let's smack the proverbial bottle of champagne against the proverbial SS Blogger before her maiden voyage!

I can't even begin to tell you how many two-posts blogs I've abandoned to the blogosphere (sorry blogs!). You start one thinking you'll have something really profound to say, something special to share with the world, and I think the desire to be witty, unique, and eloquent became a bit overwhelming.

But, then I realized--all those things I was trying to be in writing--that just ain't me! I'm rough around the edges, sometimes a little too opinionated, and full of malarky. I'm too old to care about that crap anymore (just ask my furry legs and love handles... they know. Oh, they know). But I'm passionate. And that's something I'd like to share with the world of the Interwebz.

And writing is one of my greatest passions. Each of us is on our own journey. If you're a writer, that's usually towards a published book. And that journey can feel horribly lonesome sometimes. We as Wordfolk often get trapped in feelings of self-doubt and second-guessing, and it can make all the difference to know you're not alone in your experiences. You're not the only one with a character who just won't come to life. You're not the only one struggling to revise the story your brain is now numb to. And you're DEFINITELY not the only one getting those horrifically form rejection letters.

We're all in this journey together and I hope this blog joins you on your quest! I've got tips ,and trials and errors, and resources I'll be sharing that will hopefully be helpful in feeding that passion for story telling and dream weaving! And though I won't always make posts about writing (there are too many amazing fandoms and books and games and songs out there to ignore), my desire is to connect with you over it. SO LET'S CONNECT, INTERWEBZ!

Also, I'll always leave you with one of my own mindful musings inspired by the post. Here's the first one:

~Be mindful of the passions that propel you. And pursue them relentlessly.~