Thursday, May 16, 2013
Broad strokes vs details
A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend of mine about multitasking.
While she's in school, she has a part time job as a manager at a very well known clothing chain. She was telling me how, everyone who applies for a job says they are good at multitasking, yet 19/20 employees can't re-fold a t-shirt while giving simple directions to a customer (like, "kids section is on the left"), which seems like a pretty basic level of multitasking.
Since I love blonde jokes (being blonde myself*), her story reminded me of the old joke about not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
So what constitutes 'multi-tasking'?
Maybe this is totally wrong, but I think of people who are good multitaskers as those who are good at painting with broad strokes. They can quickly assess multiple problems, prioritize them, then efficiently juggle the tasks, giving just enough effort to each as is absolutely necessary. The tasks may not be perfectly done, may not be done super fast, but they can be completed in tandem.
Broad strokes give the most impact for the least amount of effort.
Those who are not multitaskers get caught up in the details. Getting multiple tasks thrown at them at once, some will be able to prioritize quickly, others will get overwhelmed, but both will (one getting started), work on a single task until it is completed, then move on to the next.
Detail work may not seem as bold or prolific as a broad stroke, but it'll have more depth.
Yeah, sorry about all the art/painting comparisons ;) I've said before that when I'm writing, I tend to slip too far into the character and *my* writing style changes.
I've been thinking about this 'cause I'm not a multitasker, but also because I'm a pantser rather than a plotter. I can't see/organize a story in broad strokes, like an outline. I focus on the detail in front of me, finish it, then move onto the next. Somewhere in my brain the scope of the project exists, but it's fuzzy and indistinct. There's no sketch, each detail gets set into a blank canvas, like a mess of puzzle pieces dumped on the floor, they are complete in their own right, but I can only see the final product when they've all been laid out and clicked together.
Sometimes I envy plotters (and multitaskers) for being able to view their stories through a wide lens, while I'm stumbling along with blinders on until my first draft is completed.
But sometimes I feel proud because each scene I write is usually fleshed out with so many details that my brain has a dozen new avenues to explore when I am ready to write the next.
I don't think being one or the other is good or bad, I just think it's interesting how they both have advantages and disadvantages. As long as you're playing to your strengths, and not worrying about what you don't have, it's all good. Not every job requires you to give directions and fold t-shirts at the same time ;)
I wonder, what kind of writer are you, and what about your characters? Are they multitaskers, or are they detail-oriented?
Certain genres seem to call more for one type of storytelling (and character-type) than others. Like, wouldn't a fast-paced action/adventure story be thrown into chaos without a multitasker at the wheel fielding all the problems being hurled their way?
...and doesn't that kind of make you want to try writing a story like that?
...or is it just me? ;)
*See, as a natural blonde, I can find humour in poking fun at bleach-bottle blondes, especially since my sister and several of my cousins continue to use drug store products to re-capture their childhood hair colour ;)
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Writing more 'Jay'
Yes! I'm actually writing again!
...it's been too long, and I do admit, it's coming slowly, but I'm about 5,200 words into Project #6.
Here's a taste of where I am and what this first draft is looking like. Please feel free to mock, or correct, any abysmal violations of grammar, or the English language in general. I'm sure there are many.
In this scene, Jay is referring to Aricia, his last girlfriend. Since they broke up, he hasn't painted at all until his interest was recently piqued by Kell and the unusual number of scars on her body. He's still pretty bitter about the breakup, since she dumped him before the painting was complete, which resulted in him only winning second place in a very important contest.
...it's been too long, and I do admit, it's coming slowly, but I'm about 5,200 words into Project #6.
Here's a taste of where I am and what this first draft is looking like. Please feel free to mock, or correct, any abysmal violations of grammar, or the English language in general. I'm sure there are many.
In this scene, Jay is referring to Aricia, his last girlfriend. Since they broke up, he hasn't painted at all until his interest was recently piqued by Kell and the unusual number of scars on her body. He's still pretty bitter about the breakup, since she dumped him before the painting was complete, which resulted in him only winning second place in a very important contest.
I used to mix my own underglazes to create a base of multi-hued radiance, like leaded glass, like spilled gasoline, like the shattered heart of a Dali-esque kaleidoscope melting in the sun. When you moved, it peeked out under the regular paint like a secret, a ghost of shimmer and sparkles that caught in your peripheral vision, but when you stopped moving and looked straight, all you could see were the simple swirls of light and shadow.
I painted Ari almost entirely in underlayers, like peeling off each layer of her skin, the ropey threads of connective tissue, the highways of veins and arteries, and the blotted congestion of capillaries. I used green for her eyes, and the deepest ochres I could find for the raging insecurity under her polished smile.
The twilight sky, neither fully blue, purple, or black, but a merging tide of all three, crept in on her from all sides. Transition. Loneliness. Anxiety. Pride. Her absent father and distant mother framing her life and giving it structure. Protection. Purpose. Direction. Control.
I painted everything she had, everything she was, everything she was afraid of, but when I finally emerged back to the surface, all that remained was an eggshell-thin varnish.
After painting all her layers, there was nothing left.
She wasn’t Ari anymore. She didn’t love me. She threw away the ‘her’ that I had painted.
Which means she also threw away the ‘us’.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Kicking the ass of kick-ass female characters
I know it's an old post, and I'm sure many of you have already familiar with it, but I just stumbled across this a few days ago and it's been on my mind ever since.
Please, if you haven't read it, go read it now before you continue because I'm not going to bother quoting large chunks of text.
I'm delighted to have regained enough stability in my own brain to read again, and in the last three days, I've torn through 4.5 books, three of which have kick-ass female main characters.
As in, they 'literally' kick a hell-of-a-lot of ass during the course of the book.
But looking at the 'figurative' kick-ass side of things, they sit at varying points on the whole "strong character, female" scale.
Total number of villains defeated does not a strong character make :)
In keeping with my policy of avoiding negativity, I'm not going to give you the names of the books, or the characters.
After all, I'm not interested in putting down things that I personally don't like, when I know lots of people do like them, and the authors worked long and hard to see their work published.
My opinion is only that. Mine.
Three of the books I've read are very similar: fantastical world building (meant as an umbrella term, including, but not limited to: magic, alternate world, steampunk, alternate history, dystopian, etc), clear villains with clearly evil intentions, each female is "amped-up" in some abnormal/extraordinary way, each female character is involved (to varying degrees) in a love-triangle with a 'good boy' and a 'bad boy', each is described as beautiful, and each wears a lot of pretty/interesting clothes during the course of each book.*
All three are also first books in popular series (I admit, I haven't checked to see if they are all trilogies/etc).
If we roll out the familiar notion that there are no 'new ideas', only recycled ones, these three books make a good example, because so many of the basic elements are the same.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Bechdel test? To pass/fail, the basic three criteria are:
1) If a work of fiction has 2 or more (named) female characters
2) If they talk to each other
3) If they talk about something other than a man
I'd like to throw another few criteria into the pot to determine whether a a female character is a "kick-ass female character", or a "kick-ass character, female":
1) If there isn't a specific comment/line about how the FMC (female main character) has never gotten along with, nor ever had any good female friends in the past
2) If she doesn't insult/belittle/put down 'regular' girls (as in, the ones she couldn't/doesn't get along with), often specifically referring to them as 'silly', or otherwise insulting their intelligence and choices (most notably, marriage)
3) If she doesn't feel an immediate kinship with the one other female character who is somehow 'different' from 'regular' girls.
4) If another (beautiful) female character vying for one of the FMC's love interests isn't deceitful, wicked, vain, a liar, or somehow morally corrupt and/or in league with the villain.
5) If the description ratio regarding the FMC's clothes isn't vastly skewed when compared to description of any other person, place, thing in the entire story
6) If the first introduction of male characters (notably, love interests) isn't dominated by physical descriptions of how attractive (physically) they are
7) If, during those introductions, the FMC's first thoughts aren't primarily about her own appearance and whether or not she's looking her best
8) If she can interact with either male lover interact, for any duration of time, and think more about his inner/good qualities than his outer/physical ones
9) If she can keep her mind on defeating the bad guy without being constantly distracted by a male love interest taking his shirt off (or some variation of that point)
Do those sound like reasonable things to look for? I can't tell you how many of these show up in YA novels, and let me say now that one of the three books failed on every single one of these points.
Now, I'm not saying books should never include any of these things, what I am saying is that when the main female character of a book spends more time thinking about her clothes, her men, and her appearance than anything else (especially saving the world), then it's time to have a good, hard look at whether that can be considered a "kick-ass character, female", or a "kick-ass female character".
What do you think about this subject? Do you agree with my criteria or not? Do you have any to add of your own?
*small, additional note: these characters almost all have amazing healing abilities so their perfect faces aren't permanently marred while they are kicking (literal) ass. Only one received permanent scars, but notably, not on her perfect face :)
Please, if you haven't read it, go read it now before you continue because I'm not going to bother quoting large chunks of text.
I'm delighted to have regained enough stability in my own brain to read again, and in the last three days, I've torn through 4.5 books, three of which have kick-ass female main characters.
As in, they 'literally' kick a hell-of-a-lot of ass during the course of the book.
But looking at the 'figurative' kick-ass side of things, they sit at varying points on the whole "strong character, female" scale.
Total number of villains defeated does not a strong character make :)
In keeping with my policy of avoiding negativity, I'm not going to give you the names of the books, or the characters.
After all, I'm not interested in putting down things that I personally don't like, when I know lots of people do like them, and the authors worked long and hard to see their work published.
My opinion is only that. Mine.
Three of the books I've read are very similar: fantastical world building (meant as an umbrella term, including, but not limited to: magic, alternate world, steampunk, alternate history, dystopian, etc), clear villains with clearly evil intentions, each female is "amped-up" in some abnormal/extraordinary way, each female character is involved (to varying degrees) in a love-triangle with a 'good boy' and a 'bad boy', each is described as beautiful, and each wears a lot of pretty/interesting clothes during the course of each book.*
All three are also first books in popular series (I admit, I haven't checked to see if they are all trilogies/etc).
If we roll out the familiar notion that there are no 'new ideas', only recycled ones, these three books make a good example, because so many of the basic elements are the same.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Bechdel test? To pass/fail, the basic three criteria are:
1) If a work of fiction has 2 or more (named) female characters
2) If they talk to each other
3) If they talk about something other than a man
I'd like to throw another few criteria into the pot to determine whether a a female character is a "kick-ass female character", or a "kick-ass character, female":
1) If there isn't a specific comment/line about how the FMC (female main character) has never gotten along with, nor ever had any good female friends in the past
2) If she doesn't insult/belittle/put down 'regular' girls (as in, the ones she couldn't/doesn't get along with), often specifically referring to them as 'silly', or otherwise insulting their intelligence and choices (most notably, marriage)
3) If she doesn't feel an immediate kinship with the one other female character who is somehow 'different' from 'regular' girls.
4) If another (beautiful) female character vying for one of the FMC's love interests isn't deceitful, wicked, vain, a liar, or somehow morally corrupt and/or in league with the villain.
5) If the description ratio regarding the FMC's clothes isn't vastly skewed when compared to description of any other person, place, thing in the entire story
6) If the first introduction of male characters (notably, love interests) isn't dominated by physical descriptions of how attractive (physically) they are
7) If, during those introductions, the FMC's first thoughts aren't primarily about her own appearance and whether or not she's looking her best
8) If she can interact with either male lover interact, for any duration of time, and think more about his inner/good qualities than his outer/physical ones
9) If she can keep her mind on defeating the bad guy without being constantly distracted by a male love interest taking his shirt off (or some variation of that point)
Do those sound like reasonable things to look for? I can't tell you how many of these show up in YA novels, and let me say now that one of the three books failed on every single one of these points.
Now, I'm not saying books should never include any of these things, what I am saying is that when the main female character of a book spends more time thinking about her clothes, her men, and her appearance than anything else (especially saving the world), then it's time to have a good, hard look at whether that can be considered a "kick-ass character, female", or a "kick-ass female character".
What do you think about this subject? Do you agree with my criteria or not? Do you have any to add of your own?
*small, additional note: these characters almost all have amazing healing abilities so their perfect faces aren't permanently marred while they are kicking (literal) ass. Only one received permanent scars, but notably, not on her perfect face :)
Monday, April 29, 2013
Yes, I am Canadian (and I might be a little crazy)
I disappeared good, didn't I?
Well, I figured since so many bloggers were heavily involved in the A-Z challenge that no one would be the wiser if I slipped away for a bit of offline-down-time.
One thing I did... went back to Victoria and packed up/moved all my stuff. Well, most of it. I left about 1/2 my books, 1/2 my movies, all my sports gear (except my beloved Sims snowboard), and after a tragically long day of packing/movers, and the pond pump not working (so we ended up in the water bailing by hand), successfully managed to catch and transport 11 out of my 16 koi. They are now living happily in my parent's pond.
This past week I escaped to the family cabin.
It's on a little lake about 2 hours out of downtown Vancouver. I love going there. After driving out of the city, you hit the valley with farms/etc, then wind through the foothills a bit. My grandfather built the place when my mom was a little kid. "Rustic" would be the polite term for the place ;)
There was electricity, but I think I was around 7 or 8 when we finally got water... before that, if you wanted to cook/clean/etc, you had to walk down and draw a bucket of water from the lake. I was 13 or 14 when they finally installed a hot water tank, and a shower! Yup, washing your hair meant jumping in the lake, climbing onto the dock, scrubbing up, and jumping back in.
With no tv, no internet, and in a small town where there's not a whole heck of a lot to do, I managed to do a couple things I haven't been able to do for months: read (3 full YA books and a short/accompanying story to one of those books), and write (about 1,500 words on the Jay/Kell story).
Well, I figured since so many bloggers were heavily involved in the A-Z challenge that no one would be the wiser if I slipped away for a bit of offline-down-time.
One thing I did... went back to Victoria and packed up/moved all my stuff. Well, most of it. I left about 1/2 my books, 1/2 my movies, all my sports gear (except my beloved Sims snowboard), and after a tragically long day of packing/movers, and the pond pump not working (so we ended up in the water bailing by hand), successfully managed to catch and transport 11 out of my 16 koi. They are now living happily in my parent's pond.
This past week I escaped to the family cabin.
It's on a little lake about 2 hours out of downtown Vancouver. I love going there. After driving out of the city, you hit the valley with farms/etc, then wind through the foothills a bit. My grandfather built the place when my mom was a little kid. "Rustic" would be the polite term for the place ;)
There was electricity, but I think I was around 7 or 8 when we finally got water... before that, if you wanted to cook/clean/etc, you had to walk down and draw a bucket of water from the lake. I was 13 or 14 when they finally installed a hot water tank, and a shower! Yup, washing your hair meant jumping in the lake, climbing onto the dock, scrubbing up, and jumping back in.
With no tv, no internet, and in a small town where there's not a whole heck of a lot to do, I managed to do a couple things I haven't been able to do for months: read (3 full YA books and a short/accompanying story to one of those books), and write (about 1,500 words on the Jay/Kell story).
Farms on the right, foothills up front. If I had aimed my phone a little to the right, you'd be able to see an amazingly clean/huge view of Mt. Baker (in Washington State)
Here's winding through the foothills... though you can't really see the big hill on the left, on the right, there are all these amazing seasonal waterfalls which pour down the melting snow each spring
Ahhh... on the deck, 20 C (68 F), and that lake couldn't have melted before yesterday... No, I'm serious. It was frozen solid in January, and just a week before I went to the cabin, there was a fresh dump of snow that went half-way down that mountain! While Eva (as you can see) was good to wander around on the deck, Berkeley contented himself with hiding under the cabin and hunting tasty spiders. Cats :D He's used to wearing a harness/being tied up outside, and he's been to the cabin a number of time, but this was only Eva's second visit.
Morning view from the deck of the cabin, around 9am. Seriously, can it get better than this? Truly a perfect moment to pause, consider, and feel blessed by the good in my life rather than focusing on the bad. Even coffee tastes better with this view.
The very first batch of new Canadian geese! These two parents were hanging out around the dock all week (on and off), and on my final day, I guess their little ones were finally strong enough to take their first tour of the lake. Pretty cool... though Canadian geese are noisy suckers, destroy lawns (hence the fence in the previous picture), and can be pretty vicious. By my count, I think there are 16 babies... but it's hard to tell with them all clumped up together, and zooming in on my phone isn't the best :p
Oh, the being crazy part I mentioned? I swam in the lake every day I was there, except the very first day. And no, not in a wetsuit or a drysuit. More than one neighbour wandered down to check it out... more than one called me crazy (or just thought it strongly enough that you could plainly read it on their face). I was smart though, limiting it to 20 min max because you lose body heat so fast in water that cold that it can be dangerous. The water was so cold it tasted of metal, but I still had a fun time swimming around and diving off the dock. I do love swimming ;)
Anyways, that's where I've been, and while I may not be fully healed, at least I've got a bit of my charge back now ;) I am already planning to commandeer the cabin again for at least a week in June and hope to get a good chunk of writing done ;)
Hope you all are doing well! Now it's time to leash up Eva and take her out for walkies ;)
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Still moving, not dead yet
It's just after 6:30am, absolutely pouring outside, and I'm about to throw on a jacket and head over to a Muay Thai boxing gym.
Hu...what?
Yeah.
I've been laid-up again with ribs popping out, was forbidden to even walk Eva for a while, and am kinda coming to the end of my patience with this whole thing.* Yes, it takes me a while to lose my patience :) First rib-poppage was early January... so... 3 months of this?
I've been told that I need to strengthen my back muscles (around my spine in particular), and was advised to take up yoga or something.
Now, no offence to any yoga-lovers**, but I've tried it, and I think I would seriously die of boredom if I had to do it every day for 1+ hours.
See, I like to move around. I'd rather go swimming, snowboarding, running, play soccer... even using a treadmill would be preferable to standing on a mat and s-l-o-w-l-y stretching into impressive poses.***
So, I'm looking for alternatives. I'm also going to check out a traditional boxing gym on Friday.
Right now any kind of twisting, no matter how small****, is wrenching things around just enough to tug those ribs out of joint... know what the latest culprit was? Shoulder checking while driving. So yeah, getting this thing fixed is sort of a priority for me.
So, I'm going to give a beginner class a shot and see what this is like.
Wish me luck :)
* It's very frustrating to stay in bed all day with a heating pad on the back, and an ice-pack on the front ribs.
** One of my best friends is a total yoga-lover
*** And I do fully admit, the advanced poses are crazy impressive...
**** I have now fully bested the art of rolling out of bed without twisting :)
Hu...what?
Yeah.
I've been laid-up again with ribs popping out, was forbidden to even walk Eva for a while, and am kinda coming to the end of my patience with this whole thing.* Yes, it takes me a while to lose my patience :) First rib-poppage was early January... so... 3 months of this?
I've been told that I need to strengthen my back muscles (around my spine in particular), and was advised to take up yoga or something.
Now, no offence to any yoga-lovers**, but I've tried it, and I think I would seriously die of boredom if I had to do it every day for 1+ hours.
See, I like to move around. I'd rather go swimming, snowboarding, running, play soccer... even using a treadmill would be preferable to standing on a mat and s-l-o-w-l-y stretching into impressive poses.***
So, I'm looking for alternatives. I'm also going to check out a traditional boxing gym on Friday.
Right now any kind of twisting, no matter how small****, is wrenching things around just enough to tug those ribs out of joint... know what the latest culprit was? Shoulder checking while driving. So yeah, getting this thing fixed is sort of a priority for me.
So, I'm going to give a beginner class a shot and see what this is like.
Wish me luck :)
* It's very frustrating to stay in bed all day with a heating pad on the back, and an ice-pack on the front ribs.
** One of my best friends is a total yoga-lover
*** And I do fully admit, the advanced poses are crazy impressive...
**** I have now fully bested the art of rolling out of bed without twisting :)
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Yeah, I'm kind of slow sometimes
It just hit me, why I'm writing Jay.
'Cause when writing "The Rules of Riding Shotgun", I never really got to write from Jackson's perspective.
And Jay is a lot like Jackson (and it's not just the 'J' name thing*). They are both confident, pushy, and selfish. Their needs come first, always, and if someone can't help them, then that person is disposable.
The reason why I'm saying that I'm slow, is 'cause every time I start a new story, the main aspect of the main character is something I wanted to explore more in whatever I was previously working on.
Project #1 had primarily female characters, and I hated my main female character. Yes, hated. As in, I plotted her destruction daily, but couldn't kill her off since she was (duh) the MC, so instead, she got beaten up a lot by other characters -> so I wanted to write from the male perspective, which I was more comfortable with anyways
Project #2 flipped between two brothers -> I really enjoyed writing from the younger one's perspective, since I had never written a character that young before, plus I knew the narrative was too distant, so I was toying with the idea of trying 1st person for a change, rather than my usual close-3rd POV and seeing how that went.
Project #3 is MG, not YA, 1st person, present tense (also a new/first-time thing for me) -> I wasn't confident I was pulling off a MG voice, and I wanted something more action-y (plot-wise), and I kind of liked how a preteen boys and girls can be nearly interchangeable in a lot of ways, especially since romantic relationships aren't the first thing on their brain when they interact with their peers.
Project #4 I went back to YA, there's a more action-y plot, genderless character who is pretty slow on the whole 'growing up/relationship thing', and I felt confident enough to swap between past/present, and keep it in 1st person -> but I didn't have a good handle on Jackson. Actually, that's still bugging me while I'm editing the 2nd draft. Since the MC is so 'Triss-focused', it's impossible to show Jackson as anything other than how the MC views him as: a dangerous, selfish jerk who is trying to take the MC's place (in a way). Jealousy sure throws up some strong blinders... and it bothers me that I can't show a more objective view of Jackson.
Project #5 I flipped a complete 180. Female MC who makes her choices/mistakes 'cause she loves her sister (not for selfish reasons), there's an actual *romantic* relationship that isn't weird/creepy, and I got to play with my own mythology (which is always awesome)... but then after NaNo was over, I went back to re-read Project #4 with fresh eyes, and all those things I was already thinking about resurfaced, so...
Project #6 has a male character who is similar (personality-wise) to Jackson, and since I'm in his head, I can actually focus on why he does what he does, not trying to pry small details out from an extremely difficult, Triss-obsessed character who only focuses on whether someone is going to hurt them or not. So, (contented sigh) I get to show a more objective view of an unlikable character and (somehow?) make him interesting enough that readers want to follow along on his journey. Although, it would probably be easier to kill him off, like Jackson ;)
See why I say I'm kindof slow? I have this clear pattern... and I only clued in 20 minutes ago as to why I'm writing such a difficult character as Jay.
OH, and after many hours of research**, I know Kell's "real" name now. HINT: it's an Arabic name meaning "good looking/beautiful". Since Jay wants to paint her, I figured that was appropriate.
It was a real pain trying to find a name with the sound 'kell' somewhere inside it, and have it come from the right part of the world.***
I also looked up names for Jay's ex girlfriend and a couple teachers, and chose them 'cause they "fit", not just 'cause I needed a name, and whatever fell off of my fingers and onto the screen was good enough. So that's a first-time thing for me too.
Although, I do realize I wasted hours on this yesterday... which is why I will probably go back to my usual lazy-naming-scheme. After all, I can always change names later :) Heck, that's what I do with titles, so names really aren't any different.
How about you guys? Do you put a lot of thought into your character names? What about weird quirks like my 'J-name' thing?
Do you have strange writing patterns like I do? What inspires you to write a new story, and is it usually the same kind of genre/characters/POV/etc, or do you mix it up?
* I mentioned this a long time ago in another post... but I have the tendency to use a lot of 'J' names. In Project #3, there was a kid names Jack (changed to 'Zach' after I started Project #4), and there are two of them in Project #1... not the MC, but the next important female and the... sort of (but not really) male 'interest'. I seriously can't call him a romantic interest 'cause... well, I just can't.
So far, Projects #2 & #5 are 'J-free', but I'm sure one or two will sneak in there when I'm not looking...
** also known as procrastination
*** Kell almost got a complete background re-write, instead of Arabic/Persian, there was one African name that worked, and like 4 or 5 Hawaiian names. But I'm glad I stuck it out.
'Cause when writing "The Rules of Riding Shotgun", I never really got to write from Jackson's perspective.
And Jay is a lot like Jackson (and it's not just the 'J' name thing*). They are both confident, pushy, and selfish. Their needs come first, always, and if someone can't help them, then that person is disposable.
The reason why I'm saying that I'm slow, is 'cause every time I start a new story, the main aspect of the main character is something I wanted to explore more in whatever I was previously working on.
Project #1 had primarily female characters, and I hated my main female character. Yes, hated. As in, I plotted her destruction daily, but couldn't kill her off since she was (duh) the MC, so instead, she got beaten up a lot by other characters -> so I wanted to write from the male perspective, which I was more comfortable with anyways
Project #2 flipped between two brothers -> I really enjoyed writing from the younger one's perspective, since I had never written a character that young before, plus I knew the narrative was too distant, so I was toying with the idea of trying 1st person for a change, rather than my usual close-3rd POV and seeing how that went.
Project #3 is MG, not YA, 1st person, present tense (also a new/first-time thing for me) -> I wasn't confident I was pulling off a MG voice, and I wanted something more action-y (plot-wise), and I kind of liked how a preteen boys and girls can be nearly interchangeable in a lot of ways, especially since romantic relationships aren't the first thing on their brain when they interact with their peers.
Project #4 I went back to YA, there's a more action-y plot, genderless character who is pretty slow on the whole 'growing up/relationship thing', and I felt confident enough to swap between past/present, and keep it in 1st person -> but I didn't have a good handle on Jackson. Actually, that's still bugging me while I'm editing the 2nd draft. Since the MC is so 'Triss-focused', it's impossible to show Jackson as anything other than how the MC views him as: a dangerous, selfish jerk who is trying to take the MC's place (in a way). Jealousy sure throws up some strong blinders... and it bothers me that I can't show a more objective view of Jackson.
Project #5 I flipped a complete 180. Female MC who makes her choices/mistakes 'cause she loves her sister (not for selfish reasons), there's an actual *romantic* relationship that isn't weird/creepy, and I got to play with my own mythology (which is always awesome)... but then after NaNo was over, I went back to re-read Project #4 with fresh eyes, and all those things I was already thinking about resurfaced, so...
Project #6 has a male character who is similar (personality-wise) to Jackson, and since I'm in his head, I can actually focus on why he does what he does, not trying to pry small details out from an extremely difficult, Triss-obsessed character who only focuses on whether someone is going to hurt them or not. So, (contented sigh) I get to show a more objective view of an unlikable character and (somehow?) make him interesting enough that readers want to follow along on his journey. Although, it would probably be easier to kill him off, like Jackson ;)
See why I say I'm kindof slow? I have this clear pattern... and I only clued in 20 minutes ago as to why I'm writing such a difficult character as Jay.
OH, and after many hours of research**, I know Kell's "real" name now. HINT: it's an Arabic name meaning "good looking/beautiful". Since Jay wants to paint her, I figured that was appropriate.
It was a real pain trying to find a name with the sound 'kell' somewhere inside it, and have it come from the right part of the world.***
I also looked up names for Jay's ex girlfriend and a couple teachers, and chose them 'cause they "fit", not just 'cause I needed a name, and whatever fell off of my fingers and onto the screen was good enough. So that's a first-time thing for me too.
Although, I do realize I wasted hours on this yesterday... which is why I will probably go back to my usual lazy-naming-scheme. After all, I can always change names later :) Heck, that's what I do with titles, so names really aren't any different.
How about you guys? Do you put a lot of thought into your character names? What about weird quirks like my 'J-name' thing?
Do you have strange writing patterns like I do? What inspires you to write a new story, and is it usually the same kind of genre/characters/POV/etc, or do you mix it up?
* I mentioned this a long time ago in another post... but I have the tendency to use a lot of 'J' names. In Project #3, there was a kid names Jack (changed to 'Zach' after I started Project #4), and there are two of them in Project #1... not the MC, but the next important female and the... sort of (but not really) male 'interest'. I seriously can't call him a romantic interest 'cause... well, I just can't.
So far, Projects #2 & #5 are 'J-free', but I'm sure one or two will sneak in there when I'm not looking...
** also known as procrastination
*** Kell almost got a complete background re-write, instead of Arabic/Persian, there was one African name that worked, and like 4 or 5 Hawaiian names. But I'm glad I stuck it out.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Jay's voice
Maybe it's okay that I find it hard to write 'angry' if I can still manage to catch bites of Jay's voice like these:
The class is a joke, full of stoners, slackers, and girls who think henna and nail art is hot shit.
Mr. Dreschner is at his easel, taking up in the only good patch of natural light in the entire room. He’s working on his own neo-modern-bullshit, which looks like a mass-produced IKEA print threw up on his canvas.
“Inspired?” The word sounds suggestive, or deviant the way she wraps her tongue around it, as though Mr. Dreschner had asked if I was watching porn or peeking at girls in the changing room.
I’m backed-up hard with the urge to paint.
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