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mary rosenblum
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Hello, all
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mary rosenblum
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Welcome to our Friday After
Hours Forum.
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mary rosenblum
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I hope you all had an
excellent week.
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor and tonight I'm answering
character questions. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out
next year) , more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any
questions you have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on
the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular
'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into
the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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redwagonmaster
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can a short story be called
fiction?
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mary rosenblum
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You know, redwagon, a lot of
novice writers seem to be a bit unsure about what the definition of...
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mary rosenblum
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story/fiction/novel actually
are.
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mary rosenblum
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A story can be fiction. It can
be nonfiction.
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mary rosenblum
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A story is simply a series of
events with a conflict, a resolution, and a bit of character change.
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mary rosenblum
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The characters and events can
be totally real or they can be made up...
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mary rosenblum
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or a mix of the two.
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mary rosenblum
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Fiction is simpy something
that is NOT real.
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mary rosenblum
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Nonfiction is an account of
real facts and events.
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mary rosenblum
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If you write a story about
your next door neighbor's son who saved his little sister during a flood...
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mary rosenblum
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it may read like a dramatic
fiction story, but be totally real....you'd market that as a nonfiction
narrative.
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cherley
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I got a rejection letter today
that said if I changed the MC they'd probably take it.
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mary rosenblum
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Good for you, Cherley. Now
it's up to you to decide if you want to change the MC or not.
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cherley
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It will actually be re-writing
the whole story.
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mary rosenblum
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Again, it's your decision.
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mary rosenblum
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Any time an editor asks you to
change your story, decide if that works for you.
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xana
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Suppose you want a teen in your
story and need to learn something about current teen slang; where is an
easy place to do the research?
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mary rosenblum
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I suggest the teen kids of
people you know or the local mall food court, xana. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Or any other place you see
teens hanging around.
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mary rosenblum
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Sit down nearby, open up a
newspaper, and start listening.
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mary rosenblum
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Make notes later, before you
forget the turns of phrase and slang.
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redwagonmaster
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shouldnt we be writing CHARACTER
NAME (POV) in our synopsis for Ass. 5??
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mary rosenblum
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Well, you're supposed to
include the opening scene of the story, if you're doing a story for five...
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mary rosenblum
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so that should make the POV
clear.
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mary rosenblum
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The best way to make a main
character (MC) sound like a real person is to...
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mary rosenblum
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listen to people like your MC
talk.
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mary rosenblum
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If that's a teen, go hang out
at the mall, the highschool, the skatepark or what have you.
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mary rosenblum
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The best thing you can do for
your characters by the way is to watch and listen.
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mary rosenblum
|
This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor and tonight I'm answering
character questions. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out
next year) , more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any
questions you have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on
the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular
'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into
the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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mary rosenblum
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And remember too, that you
need to let your character reveal himself/herself to the reader.
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mary rosenblum
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Avoid the temptation to tell
the reader all about this person.
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mary rosenblum
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Think about how you get to
know someone in real life.
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mary rosenblum
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That is how your readers need
to get to know your characters.
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lapart
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what the best way to practice
writing or developing characte
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mary rosenblum
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Try writing scenes, lapart.
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mary rosenblum
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When you sit down to write a
story, you're focused on the story, on the plot, the dramatic arc...
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mary rosenblum
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getting everything to work
together.
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mary rosenblum
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If you simply write a scene
and set yourself a goal or two...
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mary rosenblum
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give it a sense of danger, or
have your character break into tears believably...
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mary rosenblum
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or get chased, or lose her
temper...
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mary rosenblum
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you can focus on what you are
doing in detail.
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mary rosenblum
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It's a good exercise.
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xana
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Do you write out notes on your
characters before you start the story?
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mary rosenblum
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I do, Xana, a LOT of notes.
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mary rosenblum
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Before I ever start any story,
I know my character's entire life, her personality, her flaws and strengths
and secret needs.
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mephistopheles
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how do you develop characters
that people already have a preconceived notion, such as God and Satan?
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mary rosenblum
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That is a REAL challenge,
mephis. Because when you deal with idealized figures like that readers DO
have strong opinions...
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mary rosenblum
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and your character is going to
fly in the face of them, so you need to make that characterization...
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mary rosenblum
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VERY powerful and believable.
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mary rosenblum
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You need to go way beyond the
stereotype or the expected.
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xana
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Can you give us a short example?
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mary rosenblum
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Of what, Xana?
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redwagonmaster
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can we use an earlier LR
assignment and reproduce it for a later assignment? -keeping the main
theme, just adding more to the story...
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, you can, red. For
assignments 11 and 12, students are urged to revist an earlier work and
expand on it.
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dfitz
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How do you choose what market to
analyze per lesson 2 instructions if you don't know what magazine(s) you
want to write for?
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mary rosenblum
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Start with what you enjoy
writing, dfitz.
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mary rosenblum
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Do you write stories? Personal
narrative pieces about your pets? Do you like to write 'how to' cooking
articles?
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mary rosenblum
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Then check out markets for
that type of writing.
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ling630
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I have two questions pertaining
to sidebars if that is okay. First one: When creating a sidebar for an
article for assignment 6 do you put more information than just the places
you can contact along with some extra story? and second, when creating the
sidebar how you do it on the computer in windows, what is the procedure for
the document? Is it under tools, insert? Would be much appreciated.
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mary rosenblum
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Sidebars usually include
information that would interfere with the flow of the piece if inserted...
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mary rosenblum
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It might be contact info for
vacationers, websites for bird owners, what have you.
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mary rosenblum
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And they are NEVER inserted
into the main article.
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mary rosenblum
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You submit them on a separate
sheet of paper labeled Website for My Title.
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xana
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A short example of notes on a
character
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, sure.
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mary rosenblum
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Essentially, I create that
character from birth and take him beyond the story into the future.
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mary rosenblum
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What was his childhood like?
what events and people shaped him? What did he learn about human relations?
Does he trust easily? Not at all?
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mary rosenblum
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Is he self-protective or
outgoing and unguarded?
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mary rosenblum
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What education did he receive?
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mary rosenblum
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What are his religious,
ethical, and spiritual beliefs?
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mary rosenblum
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What is his biggest flaw?
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mary rosenblum
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What is his secret motivator?
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mary rosenblum
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What is his greatest fear?
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mary rosenblum
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And then trivial stuff that
personalize him...what's his favorite food, color, music? And so forth.
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janecj333
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Even as a very young reader I
found books whose characters spoke in continual or very thick accents and
slang, intolerable (think Mark Twain), and realized that odd patterns of
speech date a book and shorten its life.
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mary rosenblum
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I agree, and it makes the book
difficult to read effortlessly. :-) That's why I suggest you imply a heavy
accent...
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mary rosenblum
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rather than use phonetic
spelling to achieve it.
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor and tonight I'm answering
character questions. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out
next year) , more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any
questions you have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on
the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular
'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into
the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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mary rosenblum
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The reason that you really
need to think your character through to this degree of detail...
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mary rosenblum
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is that if you don't know your
character very well, you will simply make your character...
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mary rosenblum
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do whatever the plot demands.
That turns him or her into a Plot Puppet.
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mary rosenblum
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And we are all experts on
human behavior. We know when someone is not behaving normally ...and normal
human behavior is consistent.
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mary rosenblum
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Plot puppets don't behave
consistently.
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geezer
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But, in historical fiction the
accent might add to the story.
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mary rosenblum
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Sure, geeze, and it adds to
the characterization...every character should sound unique.
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mary rosenblum
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But you can imply an accent
without phonetically spelling every word.
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mary rosenblum
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You can make it sound as if a
character is speaking a foreign language if you alter the syntax and word
order of the English and avoid using any contractions.
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mephistopheles
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For a sci-fi/fantasy story would
you consider having 8 characters too be to encumbersome?
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mary rosenblum
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What length, mephis? Roughly?
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susane225
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Don't little quirks make a
character unique?
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, and they should be more
than just a trait like brushing his hair out of his eyes all the time. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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That's why those character
notes really help you. They allow your character to become unique...
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mary rosenblum
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with his or her own quirks and
habits.
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mephistopheles
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I don't understand your reply?
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mary rosenblum
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How long is your story with
your eight characters? 2000 words? 10,000 words? A novel?
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mephistopheles
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50542 words
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mary rosenblum
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That's a novel mephis. :-)_ A
very short novel, but a novel nonetheless...
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mary rosenblum
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and a novel length story gives
you room to use eight major characters...
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mary rosenblum
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but it is up to you to make
them so powerful that they keep the readers engaged...
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mary rosenblum
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even though you are constantly
switching POVs.
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mary rosenblum
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They need to be memorable or
they'll blurr together. It's quite a challenge.
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lapart
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why would you have challenges
developing characters?
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mary rosenblum
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Very few writers really do
characters well.
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mary rosenblum
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It is one way to break out of
the slush pile and start selling.
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mary rosenblum
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It's very easy to plop a
character into your story and have that character do whatever the plot
demands...
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mary rosenblum
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run for his life, fight the
enemy, hide from the monster, or what have you.
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mary rosenblum
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But the character isn't real
to the reader and so the plot has to carry the story...
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mary rosenblum
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and it doesn't tend to impress
readers as much as a story..
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mary rosenblum
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where they remember the main
character as a real person, a friend.
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mephistopheles
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really, I was not sure it took
me 7 months to write it out and everyone said 8 was to many, though one
dies at the end so there are only 7 characters for book 2 :)
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mary rosenblum
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Well, there is no magic
number, mephis.
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mary rosenblum
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If your readers tell you that
they get confused...you have too many.
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mary rosenblum
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If you can give 'em a quizz
after they read it and they can tell you all about each character, you're
fine.
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redwagonmaster
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is one crisis enough in a story
of 3000 words?
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mary rosenblum
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Sure. Three thousand words is
quite short. You can do an internal and external conflict pretty easily and
that's really all you need.
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mary rosenblum
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They'd probably converge at
the climax.
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ashton
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Hello, Mary! Just got home. Got
a question that's off topic. Perhaps a stupid question but one nonetheless.
In a short short...500 words...can you have scene changes?
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mary rosenblum
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Sure. You just have to make it
work ashton.
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mary rosenblum
|
This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor and tonight I'm answering
character questions. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out
next year) , more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any
questions you have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on
the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular
'send' bar won't reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into
the regular send bar if that works better for you..
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xana
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My characters soon all begin to
sound like me. How doyou avoid that?
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mary rosenblum
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Xana, everybody's characters
sound like them unless they REALLY work at it and learn how not to do it.
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mary rosenblum
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That's partly why you do the
character notes.
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mary rosenblum
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And then, when your character
has to react to something in your story...
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mary rosenblum
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ask yourself, 'how would I
react here?"...and then review those notes...
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mary rosenblum
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to remind yourself who your
character is. Now ask, 'how would my character react here?'..
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mary rosenblum
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And it probably won't be
exactly the way you would...
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mary rosenblum
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Sometimes, making that
conscious comparison helps you avoid plugging in your own reaction without
thinking about it.
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redwagonmaster
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What is the average number of
words for a short story, how about for a novel? or a book?
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mary rosenblum
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Depends entirely on what you
are trying to do, red...there is no 'one' story or novel form.
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mary rosenblum
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You have a wide range of
markets for short fiction and they have word limits.
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mary rosenblum
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You have a wide range of
genres for novels and each particular genre...
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mary rosenblum
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tends to have an 'average
length'.
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mary rosenblum
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And that changes as the
markets change.
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mary rosenblum
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When you're ready to market
your novel, you simply research the markets...
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mary rosenblum
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and see where your book fits.
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xana
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I have less trouble with
character actions than with character language; they sound like me - not
necessarily act like me
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mary rosenblum
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Yep...it takes time to develop
a character voice.
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mary rosenblum
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I make my characters talk to
me...out loud...until I begin to hear that character's voice...
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mary rosenblum
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in my head and I can easily
distinguish it from my own voice.
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mary rosenblum
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That character uses different
idioms, and of course, he or she has had a very different history...
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mary rosenblum
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and education, so that
character's word choices are quite different from my own.
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mary rosenblum
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He or she uses different slang
terms.
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susane225
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Have you heard the phrase
"character skins"?
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mary rosenblum
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I don't know that I have
specifically...in terms of 'putting on the character's skin'?
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mary rosenblum
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That is sort of what you do.
:-)
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susane225
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That's what i think it means
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mary rosenblum
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I would assume so.
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mary rosenblum
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You do that.
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mary rosenblum
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And it can be kind of an
uncomfortable experience if your character is not particularly likeable.
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susane225
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I try to
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mary rosenblum
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Good...
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mary rosenblum
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and it's very doable.
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mary rosenblum
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Every one of us as a pretty
universal set of human emotions and experiences...
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mary rosenblum
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and by extrapolating from
experiences you have actually had...
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mary rosenblum
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you can get a feeling for what
it would be like to do something you really would never do.
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redwagonmaster
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any suggestions for adding life
to a character that tells his story mostly through his thoughts? [he is
delusional in the story]
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mary rosenblum
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I'd probably do it in first
person and give him a really strong, unique voice, red.
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mary rosenblum
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Any time your character is
thinking more than talking, consider first person.
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redwagonmaster
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i am doing first person,
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mary rosenblum
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Work on your character's
voice.
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mary rosenblum
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One of the biggest problems I
see with novice first person is a bland and ordinary voice.
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mary rosenblum
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Sounds amazingly like the
author at times.
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redwagonmaster
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voice is attitude, actions,
...right
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mary rosenblum
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Yep.
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janp
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Would you carry the character's
slang all the way through? Such as using ya for you?
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mary rosenblum
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I don't, janp.
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mary rosenblum
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I tend to use the slang
heavily in the first few paragraphs to really imprint it on the reader's
'ear'...
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mary rosenblum
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and then fade it out so that I
remind the reader every so often, but don't use 'ya' every single time the
word 'you' comes up...
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mary rosenblum
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unless the story is very
short.
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mary rosenblum
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Once the reader starts hearing
that slang or accent, the reader tends to keep hearing it with only
occasional reminders.
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lapart
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how do you transition a
character throughout the story?
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mary rosenblum
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Transition as in how, lapart?
Get him from here to there or from now to later?
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janp
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just finished a book in which
the "ya," went all the way through...yuckers
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mary rosenblum
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The problem with heavy
phonetic spelling is that it begins to sound like a bell tolling after
awhile...readers really notice it...
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mary rosenblum
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and it starts to annoy.
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lapart
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now to later
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mary rosenblum
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You can make that transition
with words, lapart, or you can simply end the scene...
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mary rosenblum
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center a * on a skipped line,
and then begin the next scene.
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mary rosenblum
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Just be careful to set the
reader firmly in your new 'here and now'.
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mary rosenblum
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OR...you can skim over the
events between.
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mary rosenblum
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Like this?
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mary rosenblum
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Say we've given Andy, our MC,
some kind of dramatic moment in the office in the morning...
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mary rosenblum
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and the next scene will take
place after he gets home that night...
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mary rosenblum
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but you don't want to spend a
lot of pages telling us about Andy's boring day.
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mary rosenblum
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Stunned by Marie's revelation,
Andy returned to his desk. The rest of the day passed in a blur...
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mary rosenblum
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and he left at the stroke of
five, ducking down the back stairs so he wouldn't have to face Marie in the
lobby.
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mary rosenblum
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It was just getting dark as he
reached his apartment.
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mary rosenblum
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We have gone from the morning
encounter to his apartment where the next dramatic scene will take place..
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mary rosenblum
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in a handful of words.
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speck
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Is there a preference of one
method of transition over the other?
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mary rosenblum
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Not at all, speck.
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mary rosenblum
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It just depends on what feels
right in terms of the rhythm of the story.
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janecj333
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I have the most trouble with
characters who don't have much role but, by logic, should be in the scene
such as passengers on an airliner or students in a classroom. Can we
justify a character who has a single, pithy comment?
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mary rosenblum
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Absolutely, Jane.
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mary rosenblum
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These are called 'spear
carriers' and they populate stories, but aren't important enough to justify
real character development.
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mary rosenblum
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However, if you can highlight
one characteristic they will seem much more real to the reader.
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mary rosenblum
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He sat down next to an old
woman. Our main character is 'he' and the old woman is just part of the
scene.
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mary rosenblum
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But we can make her a bit more
vivid.
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mary rosenblum
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He sad down next to an old
woman who stared at him with the look of a dazed owl.
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redwagonmaster
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do your characters seem to
follow you to the next story you write? maybe their personalities?
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mary rosenblum
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Wellllll....I've published
about 60 stories and 8 novels and written WAY more than that...
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mary rosenblum
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and I bet that if you look at
all my characters, you
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mary rosenblum
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you'll find some
'archetypes'...characteristics that show up in more than one character.
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xana
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"Whoo do you think you're
looking at?," she says
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mary rosenblum
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LOL, cool, Xana.
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mary rosenblum
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Of course if you go overboard
on that, then the reader thinks the character is important!
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mary rosenblum
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you want that vivid detail,
but not enough to trigger the readers' 'this is important' alarms!
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susane225
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Ah, but maybe she is important
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mary rosenblum
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Well, then you DO give her
more vivid details.
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mary rosenblum
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That's how you 'point' to
something so that the reader pays attention...
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mary rosenblum
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and conversely, when you write
mystery, that's how you 'hide' the clues you plant.
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mary rosenblum
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by calling reader attention to
something else in the scene.
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geezer
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Is this punctuated properly?
What did I do? he thought.
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mary rosenblum
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I believe it is... the tag
lines for thought follow the same rules as for speech.
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mary rosenblum
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What do you know? she said.
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mary rosenblum
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Oops...forgot the quotes.
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mary rosenblum
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But you can check it Strunk
and White or Essentials of English. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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I don't tend to use 'he
thought' very often.
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mary rosenblum
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I usually imply it.
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redwagonmaster
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whats the difference between
Mystery and Suspense?
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mary rosenblum
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Well, many plots...most of my
SF for that matter...can be the form of a mystery.
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mary rosenblum
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Suspense seems to include
books where that 'ticking clock' is a much stronger thread and the stakes
are much higher than for your average mystery.
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mary rosenblum
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Terrorists might be about to
set off an anthrax attack.
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mary rosenblum
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A nuclear sub has been
hijacked and my attack NY.
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mary rosenblum
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That sort of thing.
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mary rosenblum
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It's not so much a 'who
dunnit' as a 'can we stop it in time'?
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redwagonmaster
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what is a SF space opera? a
cyber soap opera?
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mary rosenblum
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Space Opera is a subgenre of
SF where it's all about Adventure in High Space...
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mary rosenblum
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where the focus in not on new
technology it's all alien planets and faster than light ships.
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mary rosenblum
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Usually pretty light...a fast
read, not very deep.
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redwagonmaster
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cyber...meaning outerspace
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mary rosenblum
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In the SF universe....and in
nonfiction for that matter!...'cyber' means internet or computer,
generally.
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mary rosenblum
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cyberspace is where your email
goes when you hit 'send'.
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mary rosenblum
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And Bill Gibson invented that,
thank you. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Not every SF writer gets to
add to the English language!
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xana
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Given satellite communications,
your message may indeed go to outerspace also
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mary rosenblum
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These days, most of your phone
calls at least reach low earth orbit!
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mary rosenblum
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One rather fun way..
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mary rosenblum
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to get to know your characters
is to interview them.
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xana
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intercepting our cell phone
email - or is that the CIA?
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mary rosenblum
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SSA
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mary rosenblum
|
Is that it?
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mary rosenblum
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I can never remember that
abbreviation...the one that's in trouble right now.
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mary rosenblum
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NSA
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mary rosenblum
|
National Security
Administration
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mephistopheles
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to interview your characters
would not that put you in a multiple personality situation?
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mary rosenblum
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Meph, doing real characters is
BEING a multiple personality. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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If you create real characters,
if you get into their heads so that you know how they think and feel...
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mary rosenblum
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you're sort of halfway there.
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janecj333
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when you talk about universal
emotions and experience, I think...no way. How else can murderers and
rapists exist? They are alien to me. However, I feel as if a lot of
characterization is not what the character does or thinks on the page, but
what the reader thinks OF HIM because of his experience.
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mary rosenblum
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Ah, but here's the key, jane.
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mary rosenblum
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The murderer, the rapist has a
connection to every reader out there...
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mary rosenblum
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anger and violence.
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mary rosenblum
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Every single person, I will
bet you, has lost his or her temper, has reacted to something...
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mary rosenblum
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in his/her life with a level
of violence that was more than the situation called for.
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mary rosenblum
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It might be a woman who slaps
her child at a moment of stress...
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mary rosenblum
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A man who punches his brother.
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mary rosenblum
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But each of us has probably
experienced rage and violence. FAR from the level of ugly violence of a
murderer of course...
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mary rosenblum
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but that connection allows the
reader to believe in it.
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mephistopheles
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I will tell my shrink I don't
need my xanax for awhile. ;)
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mary rosenblum
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LOL mephis.
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redwagonmaster
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in true stories, first person,
do you have to name real names? if i rename people to avoid a war, isnt
that now fiction?
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mary rosenblum
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Red, to be perfectly honest,
I'm not sure where the boundaries are in 'true story'.
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mary rosenblum
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True Crime writers I've talked
to use real names.
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mary rosenblum
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But I get the impression that
some of the 'true story' markets don't care if the story is really true...
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mary rosenblum
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or not...as long as it sounds
good.
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mary rosenblum
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If you want to write it,
you'll have to investigate themarket.
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xana
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There's a good reason why the
bad guys are often the most interesting characters
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mary rosenblum
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Actually a really good villain
is very difficult to do and is very interesting. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Most are cardboard.
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lapart
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you have to be able to relate to
people for good characteraz
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mary rosenblum
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For good characters, yes,
lapart...their 'human traits' allow us to relate to them as real people...
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mary rosenblum
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but if you can make your
reader suddenly realize that he/she has something in common with your Bad
Guy...you can really disturb your reader...
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mary rosenblum
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far more than a cardboard
figure of evil is ever going to do.
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redwagonmaster
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i have a shot at getting my
story into NY Times, but real names...my family would freak! i have to
decide...
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mary rosenblum
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Oh yea...some writers have
REALLY alienated their families.
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xana
|
Oprah seems to have these issues
also recently...
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mary rosenblum
|
YOu mean with Frey?
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ashton
|
There's the
problem/complication/solution guiding your story....now, my question is:
Can another character's problem serve as your MC's? And by solving your
secondary character's problem, that will serve as your MC's solution and
the solution of your secondary character. Sort of like two worlds existing
in one for a time.
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mary rosenblum
|
It can, Ashton. The other
character's problem can serve as the external conflict...
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mary rosenblum
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and your MC will probably have
his own internal conflict that will be resolved as he resolves the
secondary's problem.
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paminnapa
|
is that where creative non
fiction comes in?
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mary rosenblum
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Creative nonfiction is 'truth'
that is told like a story. And yes, a certain amount of stretching has
always been tolerated.
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mary rosenblum
|
Lately, more scrutiny is being
applied to the amount of 'stretch'.
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mary rosenblum
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Frey, with his best selling
book that was supposed to be a memoir, apparently made up a LOT of stuff
out of whole cloth.
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mary rosenblum
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I seriously doubt he's the
first!
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janecj333
|
so, my next question, Does the
murderer who reads a book with a murderous mc empathize, even relive his
fantasies? And what is our responsibility for indulging him?
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mary rosenblum
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I seriously doubt, Jane, that
anyone is going to make a murderer SO empathetic that anyone will be moved
to emulate him becaues of the depth of the characterizaiton! :-)
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mary rosenblum
|
For that matter, if someone is
contemplating murder, might reading a murder mystery or even a factual
account of Jack the Ripper set him off?
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mary rosenblum
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That's a slippery slope, I
think, that could justify banning any kind of fiction at all lest someone
be 'tempted' by something in it.
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info
|
speaking of names, in a story
I'm working on, I gave a character a name with the thought that his/her
real name would come out later in the story. Is this something I should shy
away from or will the readers not be offended by it?
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mary rosenblum
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So the character has one name
at the start and a 'real' name later, info?
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info
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yes the real name comes out
later
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mary rosenblum
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That's fine...I did that in
one of my stories, actually. But I would continue to use the original name,
even after you reveal his real name...
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mary rosenblum
|
or you may confuse readers. By
the time you reveal the real name, they have linked the original firmly to
this character.
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mary rosenblum
|
Is that doable?
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susane225
|
Can he have two names if leading
a dbl life?
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mary rosenblum
|
That would work, but you'd
have established the dual names from the get-go.
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mary rosenblum
|
I had the situation of a man
whose name was Escher...an amnesiac who didn't remember his name.
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mary rosenblum
|
Near the climax of the story,
he did recover his real name, but I used Escher even after that moment...
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info
|
what if it is a case of that
character being given that name by someone else? When the real name is
revealed, would you still use the original name?
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mary rosenblum
|
If it's first person, it's not
big issue...you are using 'I' most of the time.
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mary rosenblum
|
In third person, if you are
saying 'Bill unlocked the door and stuck his head into the house."
Changing that Bill to Joe is going to confuse readers.
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mary rosenblum
|
If you say Bill unlocked the
door and stuck his head into the house. "Hey, Joe." Ted looked up
from the couch. "You're home early."
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mary rosenblum
|
"Yeah, the power went
out." Bill went into the kitchen and got himself a beer.
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mary rosenblum
|
NOw the readers know that Bill
is Bill and Ted thinks he's Joe.
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janecj333
|
I suppose most villains are
cardboard-like because they and their actions are totally outside common
experience, and we fail to imagine just how brutal people can be with
little provocation
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mary rosenblum
|
They're cardboard because the
authors have a hard time imagining it. It is UNPLEASANT to create a three
dimensional villain.
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mary rosenblum
|
To make it work, you have to
look into some VERY dark places inside yourself.
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xana
|
interesting choice of names: was
he a mathematical artist?
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mary rosenblum
|
It comes from the Escher print
of 'the Stairway', Xana. That's the name of the story...'Stairway'. The
stairs that go nowhere.
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mary rosenblum
|
He named himself Escher
because he felt that print was a metaphor for his vanished memory. :-)
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lapart
|
i start my character chart 4 a
story but havent finished it
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lapart
|
yet can i start with what i have
developed?
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mary rosenblum
|
I've never entirely grown my
characters when I start, lapart.,
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mary rosenblum
|
As the story progresses and
they have to interact with others and deal with events...
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mary rosenblum
|
I have to figure out more and
more about them.
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mary rosenblum
|
My characters are fully
fleshed out about the time I finish the first draft. :-)
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mary rosenblum
|
Well, this has been a fun
Oregon hour...
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mary rosenblum
|
Characterization is certainly
the most difficult part of writing craft to master...
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mary rosenblum
|
and well worth the effort.
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mary rosenblum
|
I hope you all drop in on
Sunday for our casual chat.
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mary rosenblum
|
We just hang out and talk
about....anything!
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mary rosenblum
|
Do join us!
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mary rosenblum
|
I'll post the transcript in
the usual place:
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mary rosenblum
|
Writing Craft: Forum
Transcripts
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Have a good weekend, all!
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