Weekly Writing Tip

Back to our Characters...

   It's important to develop your ability to 'paint' interesting characters. The last two articles covered naming your character and figuring out your character's personality. 

    This week lets work on describing characters without sounding like you're filling out a questionnaire and marking off a checklist. 

    She had blue eyes. Check. 

    And long, brown hair. Check.  

    Two hands. Check.

    And a head. Check. 

    I can see a woman in my imagination with the above listed traits but I don't feel this character. She's bland. A blank canvas. 

    Who did she inherit the eye color from? Can you see them behind glasses? Are they sad? Has her brown hair ever blew wild in the wind or has it been confined to a strict regime of hair gel and rigid bun? 

    Are her hands rough from a much beloved hobby? Or tired and worn with the ravages of her life? Has anyone ever slipped a ring of love around her finger? Or has she stripped her fingers bare of any mention of love? 

    Use your imagination for the head. I'm still stuck, very unfortunately, on zombies and all I can come up with are wherever she has brains or not. (grin)

    Add feeling and history to your descriptions. Don't pull out a book of adjectives and go crazy like a kid who has been given free access to a candy store. Pace yourself. More is not always better. (Especially when drinking coffee. Caffeine buzz.)

    This week challenge yourself. Pick someone, either in real life or from fiction and write a description on them. Feel it. 

    Example: She had to be rigid. Her students expected it, the parents demanded it and she would fail if she didn't. A ballerina was perfection from the bun tightly binding her hair to the clothes that fit snugly over her smooth stomach and curve less form. Her smile was tight, given when earned but never reaching her cold blue eyes. And it would be unsightly to slouch, sit or relax. She must always hold her shoulders back, her hands gracefully folded in front of her and her head tilted lightly in elegant form. She was demanding but fair. Not overly critically with her words and her praise given quietly without fanfare.

      She was a ballerina. 

Happy Writing.  

To Challenge or Not to Challenge...

     Just the other moment I had a very good idea that my husband, we'll call him hero hottie in this blog, and I should take a day and hike an eleven mile trail.

      It was a grand idea, well planned and thought out because we have hiked many times before just not that many miles at once. 

     But seven hours later...

    I mockingly cursed the universe for putting the most dangerous part of the hike at the end of it. 

    My hero hottie laughed but I think he was questioning my sanity at this point. 

    Our eleven mile hike, already an exciting challenge, had turned into eighteen grueling miles thanks to government cuts at the forest service and trails that were horribly mismarked. 

     Inexperience of wild and unmanaged trails played no part in the extra mileage. :) 

     The last part of the trail was 'paved' with ankle breaking rocks and scenic drop offs. 

     No safety guards provided. 

     Deadly and beautiful. 

     And challenging. 

     We made it to the end, alive (obviously) and without any broken bones. 

    Sore and exhilarated though. 

    Sometimes a good challenge is the perfect prescription for the soul stuck in a rut. 

    Or to remind us that life isn't just about (or isn't at all about) paying bills, washing dishes, or crying over rejection slips. 

     It's about all the emotional stuff us writers and artists try to convey in words or pictures. 

     If we hadn't lost misplaced the trail a few times we wouldn't have seen an eagle with wings that seem to span the entire sky or a caterpillar so huge we could see the expression on his face. 

     A few times I wanted to quit, we had a cell phone on us, the temptation was there. 

     But then I wouldn't have seen or known or felt the things I did. 

     I wouldn't had been given precious time with hero hottie in this crazy, busy world we inhabit. I wouldn't have known that I make up silly, raunchy songs and sing them loudly for the forest critters when I want to give up and just live right on the trail for the rest of my life.

     And it's the same with writing my (third, unpublished) novel. I could have quit at any time. I could still throw in the desire to be published as I struggle to finish the whole 'becoming an author' process. 

     But what things would I miss along the way???? :)