Finding a Rhythm - WriYe

Poetry has an obvious rhythm, but so does prose. Writing can be as musical as, well, music writing. What type of cadence do you find in your own writing? Are you short and choppy? Long and lyrical? And why is your way better than anyone else?

I love music and I'm a pretty good musician, but honestly I don't think about rhythm much when I write. I find that the mood my characters are in will influence how short or long their sentences are when they speak, and I try not to let my descriptive sentences run on too long, but it's not usually at the forefront of my mind.

When I'm doing a freewrite then my sentences do tend to run on, but then when I'm writing a more cohesive story then I find I write according to the mood - and genre - of the piece.

Another things, although it's not entirely related to the question, is that I often listen to music when I'm writing, and I try to listen to music that I think is appropriate for that character. When I'm writing Lois McBride I listen to tracks by Stabilo and One Direction; Dawn Bell is Trading Yesterday and J'Lostein; and so on.

I don't think I have a particular style, and I certainly don't think my way of writing is better than anyone elses, but it works for me!

Finding Inspiration - WriYe

The WriYe blogging circle has started up again for 2013 and the first post of the year is a good topic to get started with, because it's what gets my writing started - inspiration. (Yes, I'm in a stupidly corny mood today. My fingers have detached themselves from the part of my brain which usually censors out such ridiculous-sounding sentences...)

So the question is 'Where do you get your initial spark of inspiration? Is it from anything important? What else about inspiration intrigues you? What is your advice to other people to kick start their inspiration?'

I get by inspiration from all over the place, but these are the most common places I go to or things I do when I'm stuck for an idea:

• Find an interesting picture via Google and write about it. People can be interesting, because once I've created a character I usually think of a setting for them to be in. Places can be useful if I'm stuck for a location, or if I just want to practice my descriptions.
• An item of clothing, eg. a scarf. Describe the item of clothing in detail and then go on to what the person wearing it might look like. If there's no person, then where has the item of clothing been left? Why has it been left there? Etc, etc, etc.
• Word lists. Do an internet search for 10 word prompts and go from there, or just open a newspaper to a random page and take the first word from each line (excluding things like a, the, and, and so on) then write a few paragraphs using those words somewhere. As an example, the newspaper in front of me offers volunteers, heritage, market, learning, thank, before, running, eight and cakes.
• Wanted adverts or for sale ads. Why is that person looking for a tonne of horse manure? Why is the double memory foam mattress for sale having never been used? What could you do with that free brick rubble on offer? These are real adverts I've seen, but it can be just as fun to make some up.
• Obituaries can be just as interesting. I've seen death notices requesting that all people coming to the funeral wear fancy dress. Why? What kind of person would have a fancy dress funeral?
• Go for a walk. Watch the people you pass and the places. There's a house with a boarded up window? Why? What could have happened? You pass an old lady who walks with a limp and wears a very expensive looking coat but a cheap haircut. What's her story? A bollard is dented in the middle of the road. Who dented it, how and why?

There are other things I get inspiration from as well, but this is the main list of places.

March Madness - WriYe

The idea of March Madness is to catch up on all the challenges on the WriYe boards from the first three months of the year. It's also a good way to set yourself deadlines and get a lot of writing done, so I've set myself an insane amount of targets!

March Madness - 20 - 31 March 2012

-- 01,664 / 01,500 - January FMM - 24 hours
-- 01,351 / 01,000 - February FMM - 24 hours
-- 00,000 / 01,500 - March FMM - 24 hours
-- 00,000 / 02,500 - January 5K Weekend - 48 hours
-- 00,000 / 02,500 - February 5K Weekend - 48 hours
-- 00,000 / 05,000 - MLK WriDay - 24 hours
-- 05,000 / 10,000 - Valentine's WriDay - 24 hours
-- 00,000 / 10,000 - Leap WriDay - 24 hours
-- 00,000 / 05,000 - St Patty's WriDay - 24 hours
-- 00,000 / 02,000 - January Hint Fic
-- 00,000 / 01,000 - February Hint Fic
-- 00,000 / 02,000 - Write-A-Thon Goal #1 - hit 2k then set another goal and keep going!
-- 00,000 / 05,000 - KWIF - romance
-- 00,000 / 10,000 - Daylight Savings - 10k in 5 hours

January hint fic prompt - Boring Sermon
When the hymnal fell he lost his place and, fumbling, ended with a quick Amen.

February hint fic prompt - Through Tiny Windows
When they opened the cadaver, they found a house. A couple argued inside. There was rhythm to their words, like the beating of a heart.

Procrastination

I've managed to procrastinate over writing this blog post for a good week, so I'd better get on with it now...

I'm an expert at procrastination. If there was an Olympic event I'd miss it because I'd find something else I really needed to do before turning up. The usual suspects - YouTube and checking my mail - usually find a way to interfere when I'm on my computer, and when I'm not, somehow I always find some housework that has to be done that second.

When I give myself a deadline I find it easier to not procrastinate, but I can still get sidetracked.

The only time I find myself not distracted is it I've got an idea that absolutely must be written down - and they usually come when I'm doing something else. Like driving. It's amazing how many notes I've got on my phone voice recorder with little ideas for stories!

But I digress...

So yes, I procrastinate a lot, even when I'm trying to be focussed. I'm not sure what my best solution is, aside from sticking me in a room with a kettle, tea bags, milk and no internet connection!

(Oh, and I procrastinate by writing blog posts too....)

Confessions!

I’m going to invite the people of the WriYe blogging circle to make a confession about their writing

Hmmm, confessions.... I'm not sure where to start. I could confess that I spend time at work jotting down ideas I've had for stories, but it's not especially scandalous, is it? After all, you're supposed to catch ideas on paper (or screen) when you get them, aren't you?

So my confession is - I often start a story with absolutely no idea where it's heading, but I always seem to know how long the finished story will be.

Last April I decided to write an April Fools novel and I picked something I'd never tried before - a romance. To make things slighty easier for myself I based it on a song, so I had certain lines of the song that I knew would relate to certain instances in the story. But aside from knowing I was going to write a story based on a song, I really had no idea what I was doing. I had no characters, no setting (except that it was going to be on a ship - the song - and the eventual finished story - was called Down With The Ship), and no real idea of a storyline.

But as I was thinking about the story and the ship, the two main characters started to create themselves in the situation. I wrote a couple of scenes which would take place between the two of them and as I did, the world they lived in started to take more shape. Then I could move on to scenes involving more people and more places.

Eventually I knew my characters and setting well enough that I could start to pull the scenes together into a more cohesive story, and eventually I did finish the story.

That's not quite typical for me - usually I start with a character in a situation rather than a song, but it's quite often how I end up piecing my stories together.

Will that do for a confession?

• The song was Down With The Ship by Naomi King, and it is fantastic!

Characters who will not shut up!

This week's WriYe questions is about characters who will not shut up. Do I have any characters like that? What's the cure? Or is it helpful?

Actually I don't often have characters who don't shut up, and usually when they do go off - or when I get really into writing a particular character - they go where I want them to end up even if they do something different in the middle.

So yeah, sorry to be boring, but there's no interesting answer to that one!

How do you deal with writer's block?

Writer's Block. Two words that strike dread into the heart of any aspiring author.

I had a bad case of De Quervain's Tendonitis in my right hand at the end of last year and it meant I couldn't hold a pen or type properly for a good six weeks. It was very frustrating to keep getting ideas and not be able to jot them down. I even resorted to recording myself notes on my phone so I'd have something to come back to later.

But over the last month (typically, since my tendonitis cleared up!) I've found I've been having trouble thinking of ideas, and when I do get an idea I have no idea what to do with it. This, I'm finding, is infinitely more frustrating than not being able to write down ideas.

I've been quite lucky and not had this problem very often before, but it's really annoying me at the moment. I've tried my 10 word prompts, where I take 10 random words and try to fit them into a story, I've tried random story generators, and I've tried using pictures as prompts, but it's still not shifting the wroter's block.

I'm hoping it's going to be something that will just disappear in time if I keep plugging away, but if anyone's got any good tips on how to get rid of writer's block that would be really helpful!

Same Universe, Different Series

This week's WriYe was more of a prompt than a question:

Stories in the same universe, but not necessarily part of a series. Same Universe, Different Series (SUDS). Maybe.

The first thing that leapt to mind was fan fiction. I love writing fan fiction as a way to get myself writing. Without having to worry about creating characters or settings, I can just get into the story straight away. Once I'm there I'll find myself making up new characters for people to interact with and then, sometimes, they even take on more of a life of their own and I start writing stories about them, with only passing reference to the canon characters of the universe they inhabit.

One example of this is Dawn Bell. She started off as a minor character in a Heroes fanfic I was writing, based on a dream I had. Se was just as someone that Peter and Claire happened to bump into and then go off to another adventure. But I really liked her as a character. She'd got an interesting ability, to be able to 'push' abilities from one person into another. In the story she first appeared in I had her push Claire's healing ability into Peter so that he could heal a gunshot wound.

Then I started thinking, what if someone wanted to use her ability to get more power for themselves? And suddenly she was the star of her own story, with just a quick reference to Peter and Claire at the very start of the story and a whole raft of new original characters to interact with.

Same Universe, Different Series.

It's not just fanfic writers that use this trick though. How many stories have been set in the Marvel universe, with crossovers between various characters, other characters making a debut in one series only to go on and get their own stories, and hidden references to other superheroes in various comic books, TV series and films.

I could probably think of more examples, but I'm going to stop there. I'm getting all nostalgic about Dawn Bell now - high time I resurrected her for another adventure, I think...

The Weird Things You Do When You Plot

The latest WriYe Blogging Challenge was to admit the weird things you do when you plot. Honestly, I don't think I do anything weird when I plot!

Generally when I have an idea I jot it down in my notepad (or in my phone if I don't have paper to hand), then transfer it to my computer to flesh it out. I think about characters, then the story, then the details of the settings, and jot notes down as I think of them, then I rearrange them into some sort of order and save it.

Next I open a copy of the file, change the font colour to something bright, and start expanding on the sections in a black font, deleting the coloured text as I use those ideas. By the time I've finished doing that I've usually got a pretty cohesive plot outline, and sometimes even a couple of short scenes drafted out if inspitation has struck!

Sometimes I'll use Star Trek Online's character creator to get an idea of what my characters will look like, and that can help me when I'm writing later, or if the character is supposed to have a particular quirk. I'm not sure if that counts as weird, but it's the oddest thing I can think of!

Sidekicks and Secondary Characters

A sidekick is a superhero partnered with another in a lesser capacity. Used for comedy, to relate to readers, but also to move plot, and in some cases to become an integral part of the mythos.

Or so says Comic Vine, which should know about sidekicks.

Sidekicks can often be as heroic as the people they are following. Take Ron Weasley in Harry Potter, or Amy Pond in Doctor Who.

They could be a younger person learning the ropes, like Robin to Batman. Robin eventually went on to become a superhero in his own right, as Nightwing.

Or the sidekick could be an essential part of the hero's armour, like Ando in Heroes. Without him, Hiro wouldn't have been able to get anywhere, because he couldn't drive, or to understand anyone in New York, because he didn't speak English.

For some reason most of my completed longer stories seem to be ensemble casts, but there are one or two which have had secondary characters - I don't think this is one of my strengths as a writer, and it's definitely something I need to work on more!

My main problem with secondary characters is that they either don't have any character at all, or I get too attached to them and end up giving them way to much background and character, then having to cut it all back out again when I realise they've become a main character and they shouldn't be.

Sidekicks are easier in some ways. Everyone loves it when Robin sometimes steps up to save the day. Sidekicks can have a developmental arc that is more dramatic than the hero's - they could go from a shy and scared kid to a brave teenager who helps to save the world. The key is to give them a bit of depth and not let them take over the story.

Yeah, I'm still working on that...!

Heroes and Villains

Keeping with the theme of characters, today's WriYe blog is about villains and heroes.

Nobody likes a know-it-all, or a goody two shoes, and someone who appears pure evil isn't necessarily the most interesting villain.

Take Adolf Hitler, for example. I don't think I've ever seen him portrayed as anything other than a one dimensional man intent on world domination. Now I don't want to get into any political debate, but I'm sure the man must have had more to his personality than being a Nazi.

He must have had hobbies, or friends. Maybe he liked to listen to music in the evening. And surely he must have fallen in love at some point.

What if you wrote a story about Hitler making the decision to open concentration camps while looking at a picture of the woman he loves, or while carefully tending his garden? Doesn't that instantly make him a more interesting character and a more intriguing villain?

The same is true of heroes. A perfect hero is boring. Give him a fault, a flaw or an irritating habit, or load him up with lots of problems in his personal life. Then when he triumphs in spite of all his problems we can really cheer for him.

Naming Characters

Today's WriYe topic is 'How do you name your characters?'

I have two ways of naming characters. Sometimes I know what a character is going to act like and I choose a name that's appropriate for that characters, and other times I just pick a name I like and the character in part grows from that.

To give an example I'll go through my characters for Alive!

Keller Anis - Her first name just popped into my head when I was creating the character. It sounded strong but still female. I gave her a surname taken from the star anis plant, because the name was interesting and it seemed appropriate for someone who travels in space.

John Park - John was a character before he had a name. I wanted a nice normal name to fit with his nice normal, laid back character, so settled on John. His name did influence his character a bit, because he wasn't Korean until I called him Park - which I then discovered is one of the most common Korean surnames.

Shanran Dak - Confession time. Shanran was originally a character in a Star Trek fanfic set some time in the 26th century. He was Shanran Dax then, but obviously I couldn't keep the name Dax, so I altered it to Dak. Actually the character he became then deviated a lot from the original Dax character I'd written, so his name may have influenced the character a bit.

Dr Anna Smythe - Anna was always going to be a predictable, stable character, so I wanted a name that reflected that, but also hinted at her being a classy lady. Smythe is very similar to Smith, but sounded more upper class, so it fitted well with the idea I had of her character.

Dr Connor Rivers - I wanted a kindly name for the ship's doctor, something that sounded respectable, friendly and like someone you could trust.

Elliot Macintyre -The same with Elliott, I wanted something that sounded friendly, but that sounded a bit younger than Dr Rivers. I've never known an old Elliott, so that seemed to fit the bill nicely. Macintyre had a nice lively sound to it as well, also pointing to a younger man... or at least that's how my mind worked when I was choosing his name!

Jackson Brown - I really can't remember how I ended up naming Jackson. One thing I did try to do with the humans though was to keep their names all grounded and be quite normal. I hate sci-fi where all the humans have exotic names. Of course there would be some odd names - just like the Pixies, Summers, Lourdes' and Brooklyns we have now - but I always find it very difficult to keep track of or get involved with too many people with pretentious/made up/strange sounding names. I think I came up with Jackson's character before I named him, but I really can't remember. He actually started as a much more minor character than he ended up being.

Delta - The red-eyed cyborg saboteur needed a more interesting name. She's a bit of a mystery, so she didn't get a last name to add to that sense of her being someone we don't know much about. I liked the name Delta for her because it hinted at something robotic (ie. Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma...) and it could also be a girl's name (eg. Aussie singer Delta Goodrem).

Creating characters

Throughout the year I'm going to be doing WriYe - basically a group of people on a forum who get together and encourage each other to write a certain amount of words/projects/challenges throughout the year.

One of the challenges suggested was to write blog posts on set topics throughout the year, so I though, 'why not?'

The first topic is 'Characters'.

I find characters can be the easiest and at the same time the most difficult parts of any story. If they're not done well the whole story can fall apart - after all, is anyone interested in a hero that you can't understand, or a villain who doesn't seem to have any personality at all?

When I'm creating a story I usually start with a train of thought from my main character. Sometimes a story will even start with a character rather than a plot. I have to decide how old they are, and what gender, and then I just get them thinking about something that's going to happen in the story. Quite often what I write won't make it into the finished story, but it really helps me get to know my characters. It gives them a personality, a speech pattern, and opinions. Sometimes the character hasn't even got a name at this point, but after I've written a few paragraphs of their thoughts I've usually got a much better idea of who they are.

Another thing I use to create character is clothes. I describe my character and then try to delve a bit into why they dress the way they do. Does the woman in the red dress wear it because she likes bright colours? Or is she a hooker? Is she wearing the dress because her boyfriend has told her he likes to see her in it? Does she feel uncomfortable in it? Has she tried to hide it under a cardigan, or is she accessorising with diamonds? Is it an expensive dress, cut to flatter, or does it pinch a bit too tight and show all her lumps and bumps? Is she mutton dressed as lamb, or is she absolutely stunning?

When I'm writing descriptions I also try to think about any tics or characteristics the character has. Do they appear to be nervous? If so, how is their body language showing this? What is their hair like? Is it tidy or does it look as if they keep fiddling with it, or running their hands through it? Are they playing with something in their hands, or are they relaxed?

Here's an example of the way I create a character. (It's just train of thought typing, so please excuse any typos, etc...)

She's sitting at her desk in front of the computer, reading her emails. She keeps looking around as if she's not supposed to be doing something or she's afraid of getting caught. 'Come on, reply. I need to know the answer now. Do I have that job or am I stuck here? I hate this place. It's mind numbing. There's nothing for me to do here, I'm always tired, I go home feeling miserable. Maybe if I get this job I could get a pet. I'd have more time. I wouldn't have to drive 50 miles to work each day. I wouldn't be so tired in the evening. I think I'd like goldfish. They're relaxing. And I want time to read. I wonder if Shelley would like to catch up for lunch sometimes? I'd be able to take lunch breaks and actually get some fresh air. I'd like that. Still no email though. What will I do if I don't get this job?'

She looks up quickly as someone walks past, clicking from one window to another on her computer. She keeps tugging at a tube bandage on her right hand - the resultof RSI from her job. Her hair is pulled back untidily into an unflattering ponytail, more to keep it out of her face than for any style reasons. She's wearing a woollen dress in an odd faded mustard colour. It looks well worn. She pulled it on because it's comfortable. She has to leave the house so early in the morning to get to work on time that she doesn't pay much attention to her clothes as long as they're clean.
She's not wearing any make up - again, there's no time for it. Bags are showing under her eyes and she has a spot on her chin. She's in her thirties maybe, but she looks older and very tired. You'd feel sorry for her.

From this I could start to think more about how she acts with her colleagues, the way she acts and speaks, and why she needs the new job. I've also somehow come up with a friend for her - Shelley - although I don't really know who she is yet.

The story may be how she escapes from the horrible job she hates or it may be that she has to stay there, but either way I have a better idea now of who my character is and how she might act.

General update

I've been quiet recently, sorry, and part of that is because work has been really busy. In between meetings and trying to fit in sleep, I (foolishly!) decided to try Camp NaNoWriMo in July as well. This works on the same principals as the main NaNoWriMo in November, but happens throughotu the summer months.
What I wrote wasn't anything I'd plan to edit or send off anywhere, it was purely for fun, but it did the job of getting me writing large amounts on a regular basis again, which is something I'd been getting very bad at over the last couple of months.
I actually enjoyed it so much, and the support from the NaNo forums, that I've signed up to do it again in August.

Meanwhile, I got my final result from my OU Creative Writing course, which I passed comfortably, and which I'm very pleased about. I've signed up for the advanced course which starts in October. It should be interesting as it covers different areas of creative writing that I haven't really looked at before, like screenplay adaptions and so on.

I hope you're all having a good summer and I'll try to be more regular with my blog now!

Happy new year?!

I am a terrible blogger, I'm sorry... I kept thinking I should write a blog, and then I never seemed to get round to it. Much like my writing so far this year. My OU course kept me busy with the first assignment due in in the second week of January, and I think with all the rushing around getting that done and in I forgot what it was like to write for fun.

I've signed up to WriYe, which is essentially like NaNoWriMo but with a more structured feel and it lasts a year. That has sort of helped get me writing again, but my total words for the year stads just shy of 10,000 at the moment, which is really pathetic when you consider I'd written that much in a week in November.

Of course it's the quality that counts and not the quantity, but even the 10,000 words I've written this month don't necessarily feel that I'm writing good fiction. In fact, the best things I've written were two made up newspaper reports about the same ficticious event written in different styles - one like a women's magazine and the other like a tabloid like The Sun. That sort of kick started my writing again, but I'm still not feeling particularly inspired.

I think I've just discovered the point where writing becomes hard work.