Fleshing Things Out

Fleshing Things Out

I mentioned in one of the first posts in this little blog thing I've got going on, that I intend for most of my characters to be interesting, and have their own background, no matter how much they contribute to the story. I've started doing that some more recently. I bought a nice notepad and a few pens and have spent the last few days seeking free time to jot some things down.

Starting with the most influential people in the story, Lawrence and Louise, I jotted down their ages, where they were born, who they're affiliated with and who they're antagonised by. On top of that, their interests and disinterests were written and explained to give them a more personal feel for when I'm writing. After those two were done, I started out on other members of the story, some in not so much detail but I kept a minimum of age, place of birth and who they work with and against throughout.

The reason why I'm so interested in doing this, is because I believe one dimensional characters can be boring. Naming someone Harry for no evident reason, and giving them some filler dialogue has to be less interesting that a first name and second name, and knowing exactly in your mind what that person would be like in reality, which will in turn influence their speech and mannerisms.

Another large reasons for it is because I feel I'm a rather good at having empathy for people, and can easily move into the minds of characters, and as I'm only young and aren't likely to come close to some of the experiences dealt with in the book, fleshing people out helps me put myself in the situation and get things written correctly.

At the end of the day, I'm doing this because it's fun, and anything that can improve the writing and embrace the fun of the project is a yes from me.

The New Year, The New Goal.

Anyone who's somewhat interested about this project may have realized that I haven't written one of these little blog articles in a little while. I can't remember when the last one was but I know it was well before the New Year rolled in. The truth is, when we hit November I sent off what I had of the book to a few friends and asked them to give me their honest thoughts about, which will have been the second time that's happened.

I believed that if I left the project alone for a little bit I'd come back fresh and new with a new perspective on what I'd already written. It was a bit of a risk but I started writing again on the second and I'd like to think I'm writing more efficiently and better than I was before. The story still seems to feel like it did before I left it for a while, which means even after some time to brew it still maintains some quality.

So. "The New Year, The New Goal" title suggests that I'm doing the whole new year new me bull crap, which in actual fact I don't believe in doing that. I don't believe that you should reinvent yourself at the turn of a new year, but I do believe in improving on the person you were over the last year and refining yourself as a result of the events that occurred in the previous year. For me, I like to set goals that will test me, and also be achievable. This year's is the book.

I intend to have a first draft written up by the end of March, and I'll be writing most evenings for at least an hour at a time. I know roughly how long I want it to be and I know what I want to happen throughout. All I need to do now is make it happen.

I feel a lot of people come up with a lot of ideas that they'd like to implement, and that's brilliant, but it's pointless if you don't enable yourself to actually DO what you want to do. Which is why I don't reinvent myself, just improve who I am as a result of previous experiences.

I hope you had a good New Year, and I may have new articles out every now and then. At the moment, most of my time is actually spent writing this book instead of writing about this book.

Cheers,

-Rue