Make Your Enemy Your Protagonist

You know those cartoons with the author at the book signing and the parents saying something like, “We’re sorry, but can you take us out of the book?”  Or perhaps the cartoons/signs/shirts that say something akin to, “Do not disturb the author or he’ll put you in the next book and kill you off.”

Aren’t we going light on these folks?

Chasing My Tail

Or, that’s what it would be if I were a dog.

I have been trying, for some time, to write a novel.  It is HARD.  Not like the typing is physically challenging, but figuring out what should happen next, what would the characters do?  How do I handle characters who are in flux, going back and forth between places as they struggle with something or undergo a change?

The Day that Kicked Me in the Arse

You know those days – the ones where everything that can go wrong does, and the rest manages to go not-right?

Well, I had one.  Bear with me for a moment because there is alight at the end of the tunnel, okay?

First of all, I started out exhausted, I had done a whirlwind trip for a funeral over the weekend, clocking an amazing 4 hours of sleep, and still hadn’t gotten back to normal. 

From Character Sketches to Character Photos

For those of us who write fiction, I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves flipping back through our work to check that our character’s eyes weren’t blue last chapter when we’ve just described them as brown.

After the twentieth time doing something like that (or maybe the first), those of us who are more prone to pantsing (flying by the seat of our pants) probably whip up some sort of character sketch.  This might just be a basic physical description, or it might also include everything from favorite foods and past relationships to goals and ambitions.

However, as far as I am aware (which isn’t very far), I’m the only person who puts a photo in the character sketch.