NaNoWriMo: Tuesday Terror

Thanks Pixabay.com

Well...

 I was just walking along minding my own business when I heard a noise. I looked back and ... well there he was and I started to run.

Whew! Running up the down escalator is exhausting. But when something like that is after you, well, you don't dare stop.

Let's be clear. I don't do horror very well.

NaNoWriMo: Monday Word Watch

Did you ever feel that someone was watching you? You know, when you're walking down a dark alley and there is that spot between your shoulder blades that aches? Or you're lying in bed and that crack in the closet door is really giving you the heebie jeebies?

Or maybe... maybe your character locked someone in a barn? Or a chicken coop? Perhaps, she is hiding from the person stalking her?

Well, whatever, here's the next photo prompt to help you create more words.

NaNoWriMo: Sunday Morning Word Surge

Thanks Pixabay.com

We're starting the second week of NaNo today and this is commonly known as the Second Week Slump. You may hit a wall by Friday and feel like you can't do it. You can! Just use every tool in the arsenal your ML's and NaNo provide:

• Attend as many Write-ins as you can
• Try the Sprints
• Use word and photo prompts
• Check out the Twitter feed for NaNo
• Check out ChatNaNo and get in the chat room with friends for Wars. 

Now, about this photo - what is she doing? Filling a bottle? Washing something? Disposing of something? Getting something out of the water? So much is going on here! Is she alone? She looks tired? 

Try a scene with your character in this situation. Doesn't have to be a female. Or an adult. Or human!

Just go for it and good luck getting the word count up.

Character is Everything

I got a text message a while back from a friend that made me laugh. This friend and I met through NaNoWriMo, started a writing group together, discussed writing over the last 8 years, and we've read one another's work. During the conversation today, which was quite long, he paid me the nicest compliment anyone has ever paid me. Here is the initial message and the praise that followed.  

"Do you have a process you go through to create a character, or do you just say I need this and sit down and "pants it" and the character comes naturally?"

I responded, "LOL, say what? Give me a minute to reread and process that." 

After digesting it I took several minutes to explain several aspects of my character creation techniques, and how I might be crazy. His response was so nice.

"You are BRILLIANT with characters. If that's crazy, I'd take it in a second. Yes REALLY! You have characters that just come to you. You take a simple character and make the reader care, even if they aren't doing anything. I see plot. I can create setting. I suck at character.You SEE character, that is by far the most important of the three."

I was a bit taken aback because I'd never thought about it much. And certainly no one had ever told me I was brilliant, except family.

My friend and I have discussed this character creation issue several times and he does seem to have a mental block when it comes to it. But in some of his stories I've read, he has some wonderful characters. So, it confuses me when he says he has difficulty creating one. I can't even imagine not being able to do so.

Still, the conversation made me think about my process in a different way. I had playmates as a child but I distinctly remember playing alone quite a bit and I always made up characters and played parts, like a play. I was a nurse or a teacher. My made-up characters might be a doctor, or patient or a student. Or all of them. I suppose you'd call them imaginary friends but I don't remember anyone ever saying that and, in fact, no one ever said a word but they must have heard me because I talked! 

I created stories with characters in my head long before I could write. My grandmother said at three I sat on the sofa and "read" the comics. Dick Tracy was apparently my favorite. She said I couldn't actually read but it didn't matter because I made up my own story based on the pictures and read that aloud. I was three! That shocks even me. 

What it amounts to, then, is for nearly 60 years I've created characters. I've made them walk, talk, and act. I've imagined them doing and saying things and things happening to them for decades. Not until I was 11 did I start writing it down. 

So do my early years have anything to do with my ability to create a great character? Maybe it does. I do think I'm good at creating a character. I wish I had my friend's talent for plot. The man can sniff out a plot hole faster than a bloodhound could find your mother-in-law. 

Toward the end of our conversation he said "Character is everything." I agree with him. I've always believed the best stories had characters that reached out and grabbed you and it didn't matter how exciting the plot, if the characters were flat, I wouldn't read it. It was quite nice to know that  my characters can reach out and grab someone. 

NaNoWriMo: Another Chance to Up the Count

Thanks Pixabay.com

Another day and another prompt to give you something to think about. This may not be for everyone. It is a bit post-apocalyptic but surely someone is writing post-apop.

I found it intriguing with the person on the near bottom right standing with their bike and staring at the burning city. I may tackle this in a short story later. For now, give it a try if you can use it.