December 22, 2016

Character development, or how to make them real

Gloria Gawron asked me to write a post on character development, and it's about bloody time I did. The last time I wrote about that was in 2013, on non-perfect characters versus perfect stereotypes, and on how pink tutus rule (don't ask why). Well then, I present to you my newly minted wisdom (hey, it's been 3 years, and I learned a shitload since then, so shush, I'm terribly wise).

The only thing you need to accomplish in your book is to make your characters come across as real people. Sounds easy, right? Then why is it so hard to do? Because we tend to forget that there are layers to our humanity. It's easy to write the first thing that comes to mind without trying to put yourself into your character's shoes. And even if we think we do that, we simply don't know them well enough to have them come across as people made of flesh and blood, people with personal histories, fears, beliefs, behavior quirks, and so on. Keeping that in mind, you can relax and accept the fact that your first draft characters will be flat. That's where the rewrites come in.

November 27, 2016

How to plan your book: from idea to manuscript (Part 2)

by Ksenia Anske

Okay then, to the summary page (you can read Part 1 of this post here). After I'm done planning it all in the structure part, I move on to the summary part and start working my way through it from top to bottom, expanding from the title to the scene beat sheet, and filling it out. This time, because I don't have anything for Rosehead, I'll use TUBE as an example.

When you scan through this list, you will see abbreviations, and your eyes will probably cross from looking at them (I know mine did, when I got to looking at plotting terms used by other authors). Don't despair. What works for me might not work for you. Steal what you like, and get the rest elsewhere. There are as many ways to write a book as there are writers. I'm simply sharing with you what works for me NOW. Because a few years down the road this will change, and I'll be in some other place entirely.

May 10, 2016

SHOW! DON'T TELL! Or I will kill you.

by Ksenia Anske

So, here we go again. I guess I just never say it enough. It's so easy to tell when you write, and so bloody hard to show. As a reminder, here is a wonderful write-up by Chuck Palahniuk about it, namely, about how to unpack your sneaky lazy telling into bold crisp showing, and it's hard work and you won't like me one bit for what you're about to read (and Chuck says the same thing at the very top of his lovely write-up, so it's okay, you can hate me too if you want).

Since reading theory is boring, let me slap you in the face with some examples so you can see what I'm talking about and start looking for these bastards in your own writing and kill the fuck out of them (this whole post, by the way, is as much for me as it is for you, because it's really me shouting at myself to be a better writer, and I figure you can benefit from my shouting too).