Writer’s Block

Anatis January 5th, 2008

So I’m doing the First Draft in 30 Days at the moment and it got me to thinking…

My heroine sucks. No, really, she does. I have no sense of her at all and she’s very shallow and uninspiring. Something has to be done, she needs to get a life.
And that’s where the Question of Character comes into it.
If Tia were real and I wanted to know things about her… I’d ask her questions.
So here is a list of questions to ask a character, whether you use any of it or not in the story, I still feel they (you) should be able (and required) to answer, because it gives the character depth. You just never know what you might slip into a conversation that gives the reader a sense of “oh she’s real”.

So here are the questions, in no particular order. Feel free to use them, and any additions you could suggest - please do. I will add any I receive to the list for easy copy/pasting. (I’ll also “Article” this post, so it’s easy to find later)

1. Who are you?
2. Where did you grow up?
3. Are both your parents still alive?
4. Do you have brothers or sisters?
5. Where do you live now?
6. What do you do for a living?
7. Do you like traveling?
8. What is your favorite TV Show?
9. What is your favorite movie?
10. What is your favorite song / music?
11. Which music don’t you like?
12. Who would you like to meet?
13. Do you have a pet?
14. Are you promiscuous?
15. Are you shy?
16. Are you cautious?
17. What are you afraid of emotionally?
18. What are you afraid of physically?
19. What makes you happy?
20. Do you believe in love?
21. Are you in love?
22. Do you dislike anyone?
23. Who brings out the worst in you?
24. What kind of weapons do you prefer?
25. Are you fit?
26. Healthy?
27. Do you have any phobias?
28. Do you suffer from allergies?
29. What makes you cry?
30. What makes you angry?
31. What kinds of vehicles can you drive?
32. Can you ride a horse?
33. Do you know any first aid?
34. Do you know any herbal remedies?
35. Do you have any artistic talent?
36. Are you interested in sport?
37. Do you partake in any sport?
38. Do you play games?
39. Are you computer literate?
40. How many languages do you speak?
41. Do you take risks?
42. Did/Do your parents have a good marriage?
43. How would you react if I insulted you?
44. What would you do if I confronted you over a mistake you made?
45. How do you react to compliments, praises?
46. Who is your best friend?
47. Who was your best friend in school / childhood?
48. How many boyfriends/girlfriends have you had?
49. Who broke up with who?
50. How do you feel you fit your “mold” in life?
51. How do you break it?
52. How do you like to dress?
53. How do you actually dress?
54. What makes you relax?
55. What makes you tense?
56. Are you racist?
57. Are you interested in politics?
58. How is your general knowledge?
59. Do you read?
60. What’s your favorite book?
61. What car do you drive?
62. What kind of dwelling do you live in?
63. Where would you like to live?
64. Have you ever been in hospital?
65. Any scars, identifying marks?
66. Were you popular in school?
67. Are you popular now?
68. How do other people see you?
69. Are you a loner?
70. Are you a vigilante?
71. How do you deal with authority?
72. Are you a leader or a follower?
73. Do you like children?
74. Do you want children?
75. Do you have children?
76. Were you ever married?
77. Who do you trust with your life?
78. What hobbies do you have?
79. Do you have any bad habits?
80. Are you tidy or messy?
81. Is your place of residence presentable at all times?
82. Are you afraid of anyone?

More to come as I go along. Hope this list is of some help to some people out there.

Tags: Character, Questions, WIP, Writing

• Writing
• Comments(0)

Anatis January 4th, 2008

Angelle made a good point about pretentious writers today over on Wicked Wenches. Go check it out.

I view it as black and white. Either I’m published, or I’m unpublished. There is no in-between for me.
In a way I’m glad I don’t run around reading too many blogs because I don’t get half as annoyed these days. (Angelle is a great “oh this is interesting” poster on our crit group, and I really appreciate that she keeps us up to date on feeds and stuff.)
So go nip by her blog, she usually has some interesting things to say, or reports some fun things at other places.

Tags: Pre-Published

• Writing
• Comments(0)

Anatis December 2nd, 2007

I think it’s time the way copyrights are done is changed.
Instead of the work, we should be allowed to copyright… our brains. i.e. if you are an artist (I include writers in this, because books are simply written art) and your name is on the copyright register, then anything with your name on it… should be automatically registered.
The reason I say this is this… There is an article on the about some freelance writers and their publishers court case.
Dear Author blogged about it, a friend linked it… and I’m appalled.

Apparently their work was used without their permission. They won the case that it was copyright infringement and the publisher is removing the work from the shelves.
Yay! I hear you cry.
I’d cry Yay too — if it weren’t for the fact that the courts awarded NO DAMAGES because the works were not registered with the copyright office.
Yes, you saw this correctly. No damages.
Now, this won’t just affect literary works like books, blogs, websites etc. (Yes, all those.) It will also affect photographs, paintings, renders… you name it. Anything visually or intellectually creative, basically.
Well… I’ll be watching that case. It ought to be interesting.

Tags: Copyright, Law, Money

• Arting , Primal Screams , Writing
• Comments(3)

Anatis November 25th, 2007

Todays blog visit was to Annie’s Blog at http://unfinishnovel.blogspot.com/

And boy… do I know what she’s talking about. Been there. Done that. Got the stack of paper to prove it.

Right now I’m revising because I found out some 56,000 words into the story that… the heroine is wishy washy and has no goal. No life. She’s BORING.
Gotta fix that.

So I made it my goal to give her a goal. Poor Tia doesn’t know what hit her, she’s being revised to pieces. That’s my 70 Days challenge, and actually… I find it much harder to do than a simple wordcount. I can write a lot of words, no problem. But writing words that make sense and will enhance my characters… that’s another story.

I’m at 9/20 at the moment. I’ve read ahead to chapter 14 and it’s damned hard to revise from 9 onward at the moment.

Tags: 70 Days, Revising, Writing

• 70 Days , Writing
• Comments(0)

Anatis November 11th, 2007

I’m not talking about the General Medical Council. Or General Motors Company.

No.

I’m talking about Goal, Motivation, Conflict. Things that should be in a novel, or you have a problem.
Guess what.
I have a problem.

My heroine is… goal-less. It’s a damn pain, to say the least, because I found this out toward the end of the first draft. Not good.
So now I’m stuck with having to rewrite. I might as well try to reinvent the wheel for all the success I’m having with the reenvisioning the story.
It doesn’t help that it’s Sunday… and one of the 70 Days Check in days.
I should probably not do those. Or at least skip one. I think it was too soon on the heels of the previous 70 days. Or maybe I need to redefine my own goals and make it less about word counts and more about structure.
I think I’ll do the latter, because… well. It makes sense.
At least to me it does.

So.

My new goal is to restructure the chapters I have. Okay, we make that a fixed number. 20 Chapters by the end of the 70 Days.

I can do that!

Tags: GMC, Restructuring, Stuck

• 70 Days , Writing
• Comments(1)

Anatis October 31st, 2007

I’m still sweating. My goal is somewhat different from last time, less measurable.

I am revising my WIP which doesn’t have a goal. Yup. You saw right. It doesn’t and I didn’t notice until I had… 50k+ words written.
I sat there going “Ok. The end is.. uh. WTH?” That’s when I ended up redoing it all.
However, aside from that I managed to lose a crown, get it glued back in, only to find it wobbled last night… and having to have it done again today — because I have a job interview tomorrow.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

• 70 Days , Writing
• Comments(0)

Anatis October 24th, 2007

I have a new theme tune.

Damn you, Chad Kroeger! Rock Star by Nickelback. I’ve listend to that damn track all day.

For one thing… it ties in with the “How bad do you want it” from the other day. Boy, does it ever. For another, it’s one of those primal scream songs that you can just yell along to, who cares that it mentions playboy bunnies LOL.
It also made me remember that time in my life when I was umm… yes. 18.
I was a late starter. But damn, I made up for it.
Other girls were romping around when they were 14/15/16. Not me. I wasn’t interested.
By the time I was 18 and 1/4… I had become a mother’s worst nightmare. By the time I was 18 1/2… that part of the song… “We’ll all stay skinny ’cause we just won’t eat
And we’ll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars”

I’ll wear an enigmatic smile and point out that my mother threw me out of the house by 18 3/4 and I celebrated my 19th birthday… err… yes. It’s a bit hazy.
You know how they always tell you to “Write what you know”?
I’m afraid if I did… I might get sued. LOL
But I can tell you that there are 2 and a half years that… you don’t put on a Resume. I worked as a Merchandiser for a T-Shirt company after quitting my job. It’s what got me thrown out in the middle of winter. I hooked up with people you’ve heard about, partied with them, saw them at their best - and their worst. And they saw me like that. I was shoulder, I was cheerleader, I was… there. I lived it and I survived it. No, I wasn’t a groupie - I had to be around these guys for months at a time and sex complicates stuff like living in a cramped bus. So you just… don’t.
Afterwards… all bets were off.
I’ll never go shopping with one of them again, though! Even I only put up with so much punishment lol.

These days I’m settled down, lead a boring life. And then every now and then something comes along that reminds me just how ALIVE I once was. The stuff I got up to, the people I’ve met, the people whose life I shared - however briefly - the people who shared my life. The people who left an impression, the people I’d rather forget…

I’m going to be spending the day tomorrow looking at old photographs, I think.
I know I should write, but… I’m just going to put it down to… research! And no… I still won’t write what I know.

Oh, and todays blog visit was to Melissa Schroeder - go on. Let her distract you. She did me!

Tags: 70 Days, Past, Rock n' Roll, Rock Star, Zounds!

• 70 Days , Life, the Universe, and Everything , Zounds!
• Comments(2)

Anatis October 21st, 2007

So I was reading the 70 Days blog this morning and it’s been bugging me all day.
I really have no excuse. None whatsoever. I could hack out the words like a madwoman.
I could… if I only wanted a wordcount.
However, I want it bad… but I want it right as well. And right involves a bit of planning (a.k.a. Research) as well as a will to finish that book.
I can churn out words like crazy. I can. I’ve proved I can. 6-10k a day, no problem.
And the day after I delete 5-9k of that because it’s crap.
So don’t get too het up about your wordcount. Yes, you do need to write, but I’d prefer to write 700 words that are worth writing, than 7000 words of which I can only use 700.
Quality vs Quantity.

How bad DO you want it?

Something I do religiously at the moment is go to the sites, blogs, of the person posting above me. I’m telling you, it’s worth doing. Not only are you able to leave a bit of encouragement when you do so, but you can also find inspiration to write there.
Do it AFTER you’ve done your quota though. Whatever that quota is set at, it’s not set in stone.
So don’t go beating yourself up over missing words.

They’ll come and find you later.

Tags: Inspiration, Preparation, Research, Scribbling

• 70 Days , Writing
• Comments(0)

Anatis October 21st, 2007

Todays check in was… Zero words.

I’m brewing at the moment, which is either a good, or a bad thing.

However, my “Visit the blog above you” works in the inspiration department! Today’s blog was / is Maura Anderson’s blog and her “Friday Flash Fiction” is a great idea!

Might have to start that too. Thanks for the inspiration, Maura!

Tags: 70 Days, Inspiration

• 70 Days
• Comments(0)

Anatis October 20th, 2007

Firstly - I absolutely hate women being referred to as “Chicks”.

That’s a “Chick” in case you were deluding yourself into thinking it’s a female human being.
WE don’t cluck, THAT does.
So what the bloody hell is “Chick Lit”?
Someone explain it to me, because I feel totally stupid. I hear books being referred to as “Chick Lit” and I look at it and think “It’s a contemporary romance/comedy/thriller.”

If it’s because it’s written by a woman, then all of it would be “Chick Lit” regardless of genre. But no, it’s not, so obviously it’s not the main criteria.
By now, I believe it is aimed at people who meet this criteria:

Your age must fall between 20-27.
You must be female.
You must be a career woman.
You must have a “Girls night out” once a week.
You must be bitchy.

The novel must be:

Contemporary
Modern story
“Throw-away” casual style
Perceived as having no substance whatsoever
The cover must be screaming pink.
Whoever is caught with it must not be embarrassed and must be able to say it’s “Chick Lit”.
Must under no circumstances be mistaken for one of those trashy romance novels, because “Chicks” don’t read those.
Right?

Ok.

I’ll go away now. But that’s what “Chick Lit” looks like to me. If someone tells me a book falls into that genre - I guarantee you that I will not only avoid that particular book - I’ll avoid the author’s entire works. Backlist, current and everything.
Yeah, yeah. My “loss”, I know. But that’s how I feel. I feel that it is not aimed at me or people like me, or in my age group, at all. And quite frankly?

I don’t really miss a thing.

Tags: chick lit

• Books , Primal Screams , Writing
• Comments(0)