Creating Characters

Jan Field's KidMagWriters.com is always filled with an abundance of great information. I found the following today as I was reading:

Technique

Storytellers: Character Creation
By Jan Fields

Most stories for young people have one main character, the protagonist. Longer forms, such as novels, can handle two main characters and sometime when an author is attempting to capture an old-fashioned voice (in a novel), you’ll even find the story jumps from head to head of many characters. However, it takes room to make those things work and magazines stories are short and tight – which is why you see single main characters in almost all magazine stories.

Jan's article is filled with great suggestions on creating characters depending on age level. To read the rest of this article or explore KidMagWriters.com, go to http://www.kidmagwriters.com/technique.htm

Get Acquainted With Your Subconscious

A few weeks ago, I spoke of the odd moments of feelings or thoughts that would pop into my mind every now and again. These subconscious flashes of something have gone on for years with me. It took a very long time to consider them as something positive to cultivate into a story.

In the February 2010 issue of Writer's Digest, Kelly L. Stone, author and mental health counselor, talks of "waking up that subconscious." In an interview in this issue, she discusses the power of the subconscious when it comes to writing and says, "Learning to access your subconscious greatly enhances your creativity because whereas the conscious mind is limited and can attend to only one thing at a time, the subconcious mind operates independently from your conscious mind's field of attention."

I'm going to do my best to allow my subconscious free reign and see where it takes me--hopefully to a major case of writer's cramp because the words are flowing freely! I believe a good start will be to read Kelly L. Stone's book, Thinking Write: The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind.

How about you? As the article states, "...Can the unknown corridors of your mind be hidden pathways to creativity?"

Just Do It

I was catching up on some blog reading today and read the following on Alice Pope's, Alice's CWIM Blog:

"Not to get all Nike on you, but if you want a career as a writer, it's not going to happen unless you just do it."

It was another aha moment for me. I've been spending so much time preparing to write, catching up on market research magazines, getting organized, etc. that my actual butt-in-chair writing time has been slim. So, I've been trying to use every opportunity and few spare minutes wisely. I spent time yesterday trying to get organized, so I could hit the road running Monday morning. If I have a block of 15 or 20 minutes, I'm trying to use it to write rather than read or plan something to write. I am seeing the benefits already--a PB idea and wording hit me in the shower this morning and my daughter brought me a piece of paper and pencil to jot it down before I lost it!

I hope you all have a very inspiring week and are able to "just do it." I know I'm going to give it my best.

You can find Alice Pope's wise words at: http://cwim.blogspot.com/

Rules for Writing Fiction

Here is a wonderful list of "rules" for writing fiction--or non-fiction, for that matter. It was sent to me by a writer in my regional SCBWI group, Jane Heitman Healy, and is well worth a read. I was LOL at some as I have been known to use my arm or hand if needed in a given moment of inspiration with no paper handy!

Here is the link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one

You may also check out Jane's blog at:

http://www.readlearnandbehappy.blogspot.com/

Happy Reading!

Inner Demons

For years, I thought I was an insensitive freak, not caring for anyone or anything. I'd get these flashes--some horrible trouble or catastrophe for myself or someone I love. I'd look hard within myself, wondering how I could be such a cold-blooded monster to even be thinking something like that. Now, I've started wondering...am I battling inner demons or, as I choose to see it, is it my writer's imagination or intuition giving me ideas from which to form stories to tell the world? Perhaps, I've missed my calling and should be pursuing the mystery/suspense genre rather than writing for children! Or, most likely, I've lots of stories across many genres perculating around my brain just begging to be told. I look forward to the process of seeing where these flashes take me.

As Sarah Gilbert says in Walking on Alligators,

"You've got to be smart enough to write, and stupid enough not to think about all the things that might go wrong."

If any of you out there have ever experienced the same, I'd love to hear how you've channeled those flashes into something productive.

Today

I read something beautiful today. It was in Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations for Writers but could apply to many areas of life.

"In today already walks tomorrow." Samuel Taylor Coleridge

What an amazing concept. In the chaos of life and all the daily chores and activities, it is easy to lose sight of what is important and the process by which everything happens. Focus on today and thereby "let tomorrow into your life." In your writing, open your eyes and heart to what you are creating today as it will "shape tomorrow." I know I have to sort through the to-do piles, turn off the inner thoughts that hound me about what is yet to be accomplished and just focus on today and what I am writing now as "in today already walks tomorrow." What a motivation to write and create today!

Just Write

Continuing on with my post from last week and my attempt to just write before addressing any other items to do, the next hurdle becomes how to "just write."

Do you write and write and write and then go back to edit later as is the common belief in what one should do? Or, do you get easily caught up in the process of fixing as you go?

I continue to find inspiration in the daily meditations found in Walking on Alligators to which I refer very frequently. Here is what I read today..."To fret about what you are writing is not writing. It is editing, and editing can come later...For now, just write."

I try to write my first draft longhand on a yellow legal pad and just free write. It makes it easier to not go back and get caught up in the scrutinizing of each word as I go. It does seem to be helping me to "just write." How about you? Please share if you are so inclined.

Happy Groundhog Day!