Quite a Character

I recently re-read a book I hadn't read in a long while. The story was interesting and well written--except for one thing. The bad guy was comprised of every stereotype possible. I want to read a story where the bad guy is charming, good looking, friendly...and a snake.

For years, the heroines were sexy sylphs. Now they're all curvy 'big' girls. Heroes used to be handsome and incredibly rich. The current style is grubby, gritty laborers or ex-military dudes. We've exchanged one set of stereotypes for another.

Since I was thinking about such things, I paid attention as I worked my way through several more books. One book--a favorite of mine--had minimal description about the characters. The first twenty times I'd read it, I never noticed.

As an exercise in one of my college classes, we were assigned to read a three page selection from one of the 'classic' authors. When we arrived for the next class, there was a pop quiz. Describe the characters in the assigned selection.

The answers varied wildly. Readers imposed their own ideas on the characters, even when they were described in detail!

How closely do you read the story? And how do you decide what the characters are like?

anny

Normal

I have a large collection of pictures in my files and after settling on a topic for my blog, I typed 'normal' in the search engine. After culling through the really odd selection that delivered, I settled on the pic above. That fellow looks pretty normal to me.

The advantage to being really sick is all the time you have to read. Over the last few weeks between catnaps, I've spent some time re-reading some old favorites. I couldn't put my finger on the precise reason these books made my keeper shelf, but I read them often.

Then this morning, it all came together. Almost all of the books have characters who would not be classified as normal. And all the rest of the characters in the stories accept them for what they are--a little off center, but interesting.

As a culture, we don't easily forgive or accept those who don't fit in to our preconceived idea of normal. Witness the terrible incidents of bullying and outright physical attacks. But what IS normal? Who decides? Is it just a group perception or has someone made that determination in the past?

If I want to wear reindeer antlers and purple high heels, why does that threaten my fellow man or woman? Who cares? How very boring life would be if we all followed the same path. We must learn to appreciate our differences, rather than demand conformity.

I'm off now to locate my bunny ears and tutu.

anny

Indecisions, Indecisions...

One of the questions I'm asked frequently is, "Where do you get your ideas?" The better query might be, "How do you decide which idea to work on?"

It's hard settling on a story idea. I have a proliferation of plot bunnies. But most of them--the vast majority--don't go anywhere. They just huddle in the corners, twitching their noses and wiggling their ears. Unfortunately, I might have to write as much as three or four chapters before I concede that particular rabbit is just not gonna run.

Then it's back to the corner to pick out a new bunny.

Once in a while, I'm seized with a terrific idea that leads to more than one story. Once in a while. Usually, there's an intriguing world attached and that is what makes the ideas come alive.

I've noticed that fewer and fewer books I read really have well developed worlds. They're wallpaper worlds so all the action takes place in a room or two (mostly the bedroom!) so the author really doesn't have to answer simple questions like "What kind of clothes do they wear?" or "What do they eat?"

I digress.

At this moment, I have ten or twelve stories started. One of the difficulties is sex. The market is changing. Publishing is changing. And what publishers wanted six months ago--or a year ago--is not what they apparently want now. Some of the stories were originally aimed at the erotic romance market. Now I need to "scale them back" before I can finish them for a more restrained romance market. And that's just fine. I'm tired of gratuitous sex.

I want a romance. I want commitment. And then I want sex. Love? Yeah, that would be nice, too. But I've also noticed that in many stories the h/h fall in love and suddenly everything is wonderful. All problems are solved. They walk hand in hand into the sunset. Except love doesn't necessarily solve all problems. It might make it more pleasurable to be together. But give me an iron clad commitment that will last through thick or thin and will be a firm foundation to build on. Then we'll talk about love.

Anyway. I'm currently working on book two of the Tuatha Treasures series. Yesterday I edited the first eleven chapters and intended to start chapter twelve today. But in the night, some changes came to me so I suspect I'll delve back into those first eleven chapters. And maybe...maybe I'll end up with enough extra words to make a couple more chapters.

Maybe.

anny

Who ARE those people?

I sat up very late last night, actually into the wee hours of the morning, reading a mystery... Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris. What lured me on wasn't necessarily the intricate mystery or the complicated plot. No, it was the fascinating cast of characters.

I don't remember reading a book with such an assortment of characters in a long time--not even another one of Ms. Harris' books. The characters were drawn in such detail that you could clearly visualize them in all their infinite variety. I want that. That ability to make even the most minor character stand out.

Even the ghost was vibrant and unforgetable.

To often, we writers fail to draw our secondary characters in a way that makes them more than cardboard cut-outs. In Grave Surprise, each character serves as a jewel to enhance the story. Yeah, that's what I want.

That's my new goal for the year. Well developed, unforgetable characters in my stories.

Anny

Drop by Amarinda's Place to see what new strange direction she's taken the Saga in at http://www.amarindajones.blogspot.com/ and then pop over to Kelly's Blog to see what she's up to at http://www.kkirch.blogspot.com/ Blessing on you day!

Life of a Writer

Word count - 512
Previous - 4,665
Total - 5,177

Well. Sigh. I did a little better today. Tomorrow, I foresee a writing marathon. I did a LOT of writing today. None of it was on the work in progress (Daffodil) except my paltry 512 words listed at the top. That means that I have considerable writing ahead of me to make up the missing words. When you get behind on writing, it's similar to getting behind on your car payments. Seems like you never catch up.

I did have a great time on the Cerridwen Chat Loop today meeting other authors and some of our readers. One of the writers, Janice Bennett, and I had an impromtu writing contest where she wrote a few sentences, then I wrote a few, in a nonsensical tale about a blue man disguised in a pink bunny suit who meets up with an injured man in a Santa suit. It was going pretty good, but then we had to stop and go back to work. Too bad.

I posted quite a few segments of Behind the Covers--Characters interview Anny Cook. Those seemed to be popular. I think it's because Dancer and Eppie are funny and smart. I've carried them around in my head for a very long time, so it's really neat to finally see their story published.

Readers, friends, family, even fellow authors sometimes ask, "How do you think this stuff up?" I have to tell you, I truly don't know. It just seems that I start with a very simple idea and my brain says "What if...?" Before I know it, I have some weird story line that's going places I never dreamed of it going and I'm not in the driver's seat anymore. Actually? I don't think I've ever been in the driver's seat.

I can't imagine how I could write if I was a plotter. I know what would happen. Right from the first paragraph my characters would refuse to listen, refuse to follow the script. By paragraph two, they would be ripping the script to shreds and there you have it. Confetti. Since I don't believe in wasting paper, don't want to vacuum up confetti, and don't have the energy to wrestle with my characters, I pretty much let them do what they want. I know. Bad parental skills. Sigh.

Take my current story for instance. I had settled on who the bad guy was. And then today, I found out he wasn't a TOTAL bad guy. Man, don't you hate it when bad guys have redeeming qualities? It is such a pain in the patooty to deal with bad guys with redeeming qualities. See if they're totally, totally bad, then you don't feel bad if you kill them off or whatever, but shoot! When there's something good about them, then you can't just knock 'em off.

And my good guy? Well he's a heck of a lot more stubborn than I counted on. He's gonna be big trouble, I can see. Trying to get him to stick with the program is like trying to lasso a cat. I sure hope Daffodil has more steel in her spine than I've seen so far. She just might surprise us all, though. Just maybe she's one of those "still waters run deep" kind of women. We'll see.

Anyway, that's the way it goes in the life of a writer. You live with a whole host of people inside your head, carrying on conversations while you're trying to talk to your husband or people on the phone. I know sometimes they all think I'm deaf when I shake my head and holler, "What? What did you say?"

It's because of the noise in my brain.

And I bet you just thought I was odd.

Anny