Character profiling – continued

I have a raging headache so I think I’m going to call it a night, even though it’s only 9.30pm.

But at least I’ve reached a natural rest point with all my characters.

• Each character now has a summary in 50 words or less
• Each character now has a “look” – an attached piccy of someone else so I have a rough idea how the character might look. It’s so important for me that I can “see” all my characters interacting, in my head.

Next anal-retentive thing – pairing off the pairs so I can see what everyone looks like side by side. I mean, if you’re going to make your characters sizzle, the least you can do is picture them… er… talking to each other.

Other things left:

• fleshing out each character’s likes and dislikes, habits etc
• their voices and what they might say, how they might say things, whether they have a lisp…
• preparation of plots for card sorting.

Ooh. Card-sorting. More on that later.

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Dream holiday: writers retreat

Was just chatting to a girlfriend online, when the idea of us running off to a writers retreat came up. (She’s into theatre professionally and is just one of the most brilliant people I know in real life. Just sitting at her feet to see her poring over a script would be a treat in itself.)

Anyhoo, I did a quick google, not expecting anything at all, when I chanced upon the Olvar Wood Writers Retreat and lost my heart completely.

• Wireless internet access on most of the grounds – check
• Fully-equipped kitchen – check
• Library for research – check
• Stuck in the bush so you can have a quiet weekend of mad writing – check
• Complimentary on-site editorial and critiqueing service – bonus! (they keep saying “complementary editorial” when they mean “complimentary editorial”, but hey. It’s still nice to have someone VOLUNTEER to read your work and tell you what they think!)

It’s an hour away from Brisbane and rates start from $350, although if you just want to be left the hell alone so you can write freely without feeling watched, then rates start from $550. HOW COOL IS THAT!

Either I start saving now, or I aim to be one of those editorial chicks when I retire. WHO’S WITH ME?! (Nobody at this stage, because blog is still shiny and no one  is listening. Yet.)

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Location, location, location…

There are two other computer programs apart from yWriter that I adore, and I am about to make them all converge with the former, for the sole purpose of making this book pweetty.

I used to spend Too Much Time on The Sims, because it was essentially an electronic dollhouse, and I’m a bit girly like that. (Admit it, boy gamers secretly marrying off your Sims after they have multiple Woo-Hoos in the outdoor jacuzzi. You like playing with electronic dollhouses. It’s not just about drowning them for fun by removing the ladder in the pool. I’m on to you.)

I also spend a lot of time in my day job with Microsoft Visio. Which includes many lovely stencils for the planning of office spaces and the like. Also a kind of electronic dollhouse fetish coming into play here, you follow me?

Enter yWriter’s ability to include profiles of locations you refer to in your book. Suddenly, I can get real micro-managery and start putting together line drawings of sets for my characters. And when I’m through with that, I can load Sims and choose wall paper and furniture.

I’m only half kidding, by the way. If I’m going to describe how characters are sitting relative to each other in the office, I’m going to have to draw the office. I’m visual. I work that way. It sounds like a cheap excuse to bash away at playing House again virtually, but because I’m not going to get past this block until I get this out of my system – and because it’s so much fun (for me), guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow night.

All this, thought up while in the shower this morning. Told you inspiration strikes there.

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Channelling all that pent up ngngng…

I did not have a good day at work.

Actually, most of the day went swimmingly, except for that bit where I got b*tch-slapped by email. Sticks and stones yada yada, but that doesn’t mean words don’t draw blood. It came partially out of the blue (I had an inkling on Friday that the emailer was a tad psychotic), but I didn’t expect a verbal nutty this morning –  complete wth threats. Hello!

The rush. The surge of emotion. I’m trying to put together a paper trail to defend myself, but I cannot type. The blood pours into my face and the fingers are shaking. I try writing instead and I cannot steady the hand; the chicken scratch on the page only serves as a further reminder that I am upset, and somewhere, a dialogue of self-doubt and outrage is churning.  I am trembling. I am livid. I am mortified. The mind is racing around like a lemming on speed locked in a cage, and cerebrally I’m talking myself through how I’m feeling and how I need to be a bigger person. I remember to breathe in and out. My face, I am sure, has gone bright red and I seldom to never blush.

Somehow, I didn’t get angry like I thought I would. Which made me paranoid that I’m guilty after all. Which made me anxious about the threats and getting jack-all for support. Which turned into a panic. Which turned into embarrassment. Which turned into defensiveness and the sudden urge to want to run out and bitch to everyone in the world about what a jerk that idiot was and who the hell is he anyway, making threats like that? What is he, twelve??? How DARE he! Ooh, found the anger.

I am still upset, which is partly why I’m writing this down because it’s therapy and because I didn’t quite bitch as much as I would have liked today (I told 5 people – 3 only out of necessity for political reasons, 1 because he’s my husband, 1 for actual catharsis). I’m old enough now to know that some folks are just bitter and unhappy all on their own, and it sometimes has very little to do with me. Yes, the world doesn’t revolve around me, etc etc. And because my imagination is fired up and I’m hungering for material, I want to feed all this emotion back into the book because it’s potent stuff. But I’m still feeling a little too raw, so I’m penning this down as a stub for myself to revisit later.

At the risk of sounding like a tortured thespian wannabe… sometimes, emotions just drain you. Maybe I’ll wake up earlier tomorrow to whip up a character profile, but for now I think I’ll just cuddle in bed and call it a day.

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Note to self: give my characters goals

yWriter (and I’ll talk about that lovely, God-send freeware some day) has space in each character profile to enter that character’s goals.

Just read  Character External Goals: Why Characters Need Super-Objectives for Their Story Arcs.

Something else to work on.

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How to: form your plot and character

So here’s what I tried last night.

I asked 2 things of each of my characters yesterday:

1. What is it about the nature and personality of [insert character here] that makes him/her choose one action over another?
2. How has the character changed by the end of the book?

So far, so good. I’ve written short answers for about 5 characters, but it’s already spurred me to consider other details about them. Like how they express what they’re feeling non-verbally. How they dress and stand. And because I’m refining quite a few of my best-loved characters from Failed Draft#2, I already have pictures of what some of them might look like.

By the way, istockphoto and Getty Images can be treasure troves. But pictures of George Clooney can also be quite the inspiration. *sigh*

As for plot, I’m trying something else out. Because characters obviously interact and each have their own development arc, I’m now trying to cobble together a loose outline of each sub-conflict. So for instance, I started putting together  a rough outline of a love triangle last night (gotta love those), limiting it only to the actions of the three main characters in this plot line.

The idea is to come up with a few more of these outlines for combinations of characters, before finally trying to weave all plots together in sequential order.

That’s the idea, anyway. I’ll tell you later if it sucks.

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My rough timeline and schedule

And this is how I do it:

Each week – work twice a week
Therefore 10 days to work out all characters and rough plot outline

Thereafter,

Assuming 2 days of 2,000 words each
That means 4,000 words a week
That means 25 weeks, assuming I start 1 September
That takes me up to the last week of February
That means only 2 weeks of reprieve and no Christmas. 😦

To be safe, I need to write about 5,000 words a week
That means 20 weeks, with 7 weeks’ reprieve…

To allow for

• holidays and travelling
• illness
• family visits and other delights
• mental health days solvable only by watching rom-coms “for research”.

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How to capture ideas in the shower

Further to my post about writing inspiration in the shower, I’ve compiled a list of tools to try out.

1. Magna doodle board – or something similar.
   I’ve never questioned how waterproof it is, but considering it’s for children… Space is limited, too.
2. Bathtub crayons
   Colours look rich, but as with everything else, you can’t always trust the advertising. Also have to consider bathtub crayon sharpener over time.
3. Good ol’ dry erase marker
   The trick is to find a tile within scribbling distance that isn’t prone to stray water sprinkles. And a place to store the markers. But I remain a sceptic.
4. Waterproof notebook
   Again, sounds almost too good to be true. Then again, for USD16.95, maybe it works. Also retails in Australia, and seems cheaper.
5. Waterproof eyeliners
   Although mine have never really been shower-proof.
6. Waterproofing the humble tape-recorder
   But I’m not sure I’d enjoy verbalising my ideas for the entire house to hear. (“And then he looked into her eyes and said ‘You’re beautiful!’ And then he carassed her bottom!” Aahh… no.)
7. Scuba dive slates
   Because divers have epiphanies too.

Remember, Archimedes purportedly found inspiration when he stepped into his bath. He also ran down the street in the buff, screaming Eureka. And that’s because he didn’t invest in a magna doodle. *Nod*.

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