Characterization

It's been a while since I did an entry on craft, so today let's focus on characterization. This is the sum of all your character's traits, good AND bad, that make her who she is on paper. It's important to keep your character from sounding "cookie-cutter." Anyone can write about the jilted woman who's afraid to love again. But if you pay special attention to rounding her out, humanizing her, THEN you've got something special.

What are her flaws? Everyone's got some. Don't love your hero and heroine so much that you make them perfect. That makes for dull reading. And make those flaws INTERESTING. Not just "She's too kind," or "She works too hard." Maybe she's an impossibly nosy person who eavesdrops and then overhears that her straight-laced politician boss is having an affair with HER ex. Maybe the two are involved in a huge money-laundering scam. Maybe your heroine's nosiness gets her in so deep that she thinks she can solve this herself. Now you're getting somewhere - strong characters can sometimes help you carve out the plot just by being who they are. (Pick the worst situation that can happen to them, and drop them into it. Works every time!)

But you've only scratched the surface. Maybe she bites her nails when she's nervous. Lots of us do it and can relate. This kind of stuff endears your reader to your characters, because they have foibles just like us. Little flaws can be as important to characterization as larger ones.

It's easy to give your heroine superhuman abilities and talents, because you like her. But it's more meaningful to give them the bad stuff, because it opens them up for us to jump in and fall in love with them. So give some thought to your characterization even before you write a single word of the book. Your characters may write it for you!

"The End" - Really!

I did it! *happy dance*

I finally reached "The End" in my manuscript, EARTH - the first of four books in a "new" series targeting The Wild Rose Press. This book has been just over two years in the making, so it's more "resurrected" than "new," but I am giddy to have finished the first intallment. I feel happy and exhausted and relieved, as if I lived through all the adventures and trials of the hero and heroine. Never let them say writing is easy!

I'm now going to take a little time to edit and polish it, while wading through some editing projects for The Wild Rose Press. I will then put some info on this book up on my website and focus on some side jobs as a web designer for fellow authors. After that, I might need a nap. ;)

"The End" - Almost! / Contest Entry

This weekend I am focusing on getting to the end of one of my current manuscripts - one that's been waiting for The End for about two years now! The book's working title is EARTH, and it's been a long, long road to get where it's at now. While it has Western elements, because of the nature of the hero's power (the setting is Montana), this book is firmly within the realm of Paranormal. You should see more about this book soon on my website, so stay on the lookout for it!

In the meantime, I have entered my short story, FINDING HOME, in a locally-held writing contest just for fun. I'll keep you posted on how it does!

Ahh, Fall!

Fall is officially here in NY. That means changing leaves, snuggly sweaters, apple picking, and pumpkins! We have done some (not all) of the fall yard work and put out the fall decorations. Soon, it'll be time for trick-or-treating.

With the changing weather, I find better reasons to move indoors with my activities. This includes a (hopefully consistent) upsurge in my writing output. I am finishing up a story that I set aside a couple of years ago, in the hope that I can get someone to bite on it. After that, I plan to go back to the next book in the Gifted series. After that, I'll either work on another book in the Gifted series, or another of the several projects I have in the back of my head.

I have a comfy new leather desk chair coming to replace the rock-hard one I currently use. I'm hoping that encourages me to spend more time at my desk working! I can't wait.

Meantime, I think I'll go get some apple pie.

On Being Silly

Last weekend the hubby and I went to dinner with some friends. We had good food and lively conversation, and as much as I love motherhood, it was nice to leave the peanut with Grandma for the night and enjoy an evening out. You might say it was refreshing to remember what it's like to be an adult.

After dinner, we went to a karaoke bar and made fools of ourselves.

Yes, I did get up and sing. Nobody died or ran for cover, so it must not have been all that bad. (Or they were being charitable. Or perhaps they were in possession of earplugs.) I was terrified, of course. Half the point of being a writer is that nobody's actually looking at you. You get to hide behind a computer. But I managed, and my friends sang too. And it was fun to sing along when someone else had the microphone. Therapeutic, actually. Hmm, I might have to do this karaoke thing again. Making a fool of yourself as therapy. Who knew?

Bitten!

OK, I may write paranormal, and I may love Buffy and Angel (it's the writing - Joss Whedon is my hero for adding conflict to a storyline) ... but honest, I'm not a vampire girl. Or I wasn't.

Then I met Edward.

Ha. Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga is so darn good, I'm staying up way past my bedtime (like 1:00 AM, and I have to get up at 5:00) to read. It takes Edward, like, 43 pages to even say hello to the girl in the first book. And the minute he opened his mouth, I went "Eeek! I love him!" How's that for building up your romantic tension?!? I have to be honest and say there's more "telling," adverb use, rolling eyes, looks, and repeated phrases than I think we could get away with in the adult romance genre - but obviously Stephenie knows what she's doing, since all four books have topped the bestseller list. Topped, like, Number One.

That's gotta be Edward's fault. Really, pick up the first book (aptly titled Twilight) and you'll see what I mean. This series is awesome, and it's been nice to want to devour a book whole again. I haven't been this giddy since reading Harry Potter. So a big thank you to Stephenie Meyer for that. And a not-subtle hint for any of you who are even remotely fans of paranormal and YA to read this series. :)