Assorted writing tips #8 – Characterisation

Writing (Photo credit: jjpacres)

 

I’ve written about writing exercises before, but this time I just wanted to talk about one that has really helped me.

Last week, I started a five-week (or really, five-fortnight, but you know what I mean) novel-writing course at my local writers’ centre. I’ve been a member there for a while but haven’t actually been to much – with the kids, most of the things they’ve had on have been either at a bad time or took too much out of the day (say, 10 till 5 on a Saturday, which is really hard for me to do). I figured I could manage two hours a fortnight, though, so off I went.

The first session was about characterisation. Characterisation is something that I find a lot of fun – getting to know one’s characters is always an enjoyable process, and I love seeing where they take me. Often it’s places I don’t expect, but that’s half the fun of it, don’t you think? Anyway, I’ve been given (and used) different character sheets over the years, but there is something about them that seems, I don’t know, sterile. Filling in a form about someone, while it can be very instructive, doesn’t really give me a feel for them. Thing was, I didn’t know of any other way so I persevered.

Then along came Thursday night, and Lucy Clark, the author who is running the course, made the comment that they don’t really work for her either. Hurrah! I knew I couldn’t be alone, but it was great to see someone who has been really successful facing the same battles. What she did, she explained, was write a biography of each character. This is a page or two – or three or four, depending on how small you write and how far you get into the character – written in the first person, telling the story of that person’s life. It’s not really structured, and it’s not intended to be edited (much), just a jumbled narrative of one thought after another. We did a sample in the class, given just a name and an occupation, and it’s amazing how much I could turn out. (In fact, I’m considering using the character I came up with in that session in a future novel.) This is free writing at its best - rambling, unfocused and full of tangents, yet extraordinarily useful when it comes to characterisation and character development.

I’ve used this since on the characters I’ve been writing for the past couple of years, and I have learnt so much more about them by doing this that I have in two years worth of scene creation. Sure, a lot of it I already knew, but I found myself delving so much further into them, especially some of the secondary and tertiary characters, that finishing this manuscript is going to be a breeze. Instead of wondering how someone is going to react to a certain situation, I feel now that I’m at the stage of just putting them in the scene and stage managing – and some of my best writing has been doing just that.

So, there it is. My tip of the day for really getting into your characters’ heads, especially if character sheets don’t really work for you. Of course, not everyone is the same so this might really not appeal to some people. For me, though, it’s been amazing.

 

Related articles

• An Exercise in Freewriting (laniseb.wordpress.com)
• First Friday Free-Write! (missriki.com)
• Characterisation (efthaliapegios.wordpress.com)
• Things I am doing to improve my writing (awapara.wordpress.com)
• Novel Writing – Strategies for Fiction Writers (kathytemean.wordpress.com)

Why do you write? And does it matter?

Medieval writing desk (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Well, why do you? If you are a writer, that is.

It’s an interesting question. Me, I’ve been writing for years, but it’s only the past five or six years that I’ve taken it seriously at all. After reading a lot of books, I started to think that some of the stories in my head could find an outlet in that way too. Let’s face it, with a lot of the stuff I was reading, I was sure I could do better.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, but the feedback I’ve had on some of my completed works (unpublished, that is) is that maybe I can. Do better, that is. If nothing else, it’s been encouraging, which is why I kept at it. I’m not someone who is so full of ideas that I would still be writing even if everyone hated my work. I need to believe that I can get somewhere with it, that I can have people I’ve never met read my words and be moved by them, in order to do it.

I know that this may be considered conceited, admitting that I don’t necessarily write for the love of it. The thing is, though, that I do, albeit in my own way. The way I see it is that I’ve already written the never-to-be-published stories. What I want to do now is take that next step, and write something that could be published, perhaps even by a publishing house. I have nothing against self-publishing and I may go down that path myself, but there’s a part of me that wants the external validation that getting an agent and a book deal provides.

Perhaps you write to be published, too. Perhaps you feel, as I do, that it’s time for you to try to take that next step. Or perhaps you write because you need to, because it’s your raison d’être, because if you didn’t you would go crazy. Perhaps you’re somewhere in the middle and you’re writing something that you think might end up in the wider world, but you’re not sure. Perhaps you’ve got a story you want to tell and you have no idea where it will take you.  Perhaps you’ve seen The Hunger Games and want to get in on that whole YA dystopian thing, or maybe pen the next erotica mega-hit. Perhaps you just like the feel of creating something and you have no intention of ever showing it to anyone.

The thing is, we are all different, and while our reasons for writing may sound the same on some levels, I suspect that once you delve right in, they are in fact all different too. Unique in their own way. We have different motivations, different expectations and different hopes and dreams about where our writing might take us. And I think we should celebrate this.

There are some people who judge others based on the reason they write. They turn up their noses at the idea of jumping on a bandwagon or writing for profit, saying that it should be for the love of the craft. Or they wonder aloud why anyone would waste their time on something that can never earn them a pay cheque. But I think this is self-defeating behaviour. We all have something in common, in that we all write. We all share a passion. And this is something that should be celebrated; that should be used as a reason to meet new people, not alienate them.

Why do you write? It’s probably a reason unique to you. And, really, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you do it at all.

 

Related articles

• Writing to the Market (justinelarbalestier.com)
• You could write a book… (eruditereflection.wordpress.com)
• When writing is a struggle (as it inevitably happens) (wordyliving.wordpress.com)
• I AM a WRITER, Sam I am (myetchasketchlife.com)
• The Power of Writing – Releasing and Success! (oilspice.wordpress.com)

Inspiration, where art thou?

Writing (Photo credit: jjpacres)

This past week, I’ve struggled with inspiration.

I don’t just mean I haven’t written much, more that I haven’t written at all. For someone who’s supposed to be doing Camp NaNo this month, it’s a bit of an issue. And I can’t even say that I haven’t had time, because I have – I’ve just chosen to spend that time catching up on TV shows I’ve missed, or reading, rather than writing.

I’m not going to get worked up about it, though. While common advice is to make yourself do it (and I’ve endorsed that sort of advice myself), I don’t think that the occasional break from writing is necessarily detrimental. In fact, I think it can leave you feeling refreshed and give you a new perspective on things. My notebook is full of ideas – single sentences, most of them, but things which will add a richness to my story when I expand on them. I’ve not been writing, but I’ve not been idle either.

A break, though, is good only if it’s limited. I’ve been known to put down my pen and not pick it up again for months. Sure, I had an excuse last time this happened in that I’d just given birth, but I shouldn’t have waited till my youngest was nine months old before I started writing again. The break was far too long and it took me a while to get back into the swing of the story. For me, I think a week is about right. It would be far too easy to let this hiatus drag on and not get any writing done, but then that would be detrimental to the desired outcome – namely, a finished manuscript.

As such, starting tomorrow I’m going to start writing again. It would be today, but it’s a public holiday in my part of the world and the day is full of family-related things. I may get a chance after the kids go to bed, but then again I may not. We’ll see how it goes. Tomorrow, though, I have no excuse, and I have plenty of ideas thanks to my break. I’m making a promise to myself … hopefully I’ll keep it.

What are your thoughts on taking a break? Are you a “write at all costs” sort of person, or do you think that the occasional period of time off can be beneficial? I know where I stand, but I also know that different things work for different people. So, let me know what works for you and who knows, I might find something that’s better for me too.  :)