10 Things Your Characters Are Trying to Tell You

Today post comes from a friend of mine,  Fyndorian, at www.writing.com, aka Robin Moyer. 

Thanks to Robin for letting me repost this....

10 things your characters are trying to tell you!


1. We don't care if you are the power that can push down the keys and create the words and actions; sometime you need to listen to us and let us lead the way. You gave us the brains and the looks; let us use them!

2. Contrary to what you may believe; once you turn off the light and walk away from the computer, we do not simply lie down and sleep. You have given us life and just because you are tired doesn't mean that we are. Reread when you come back, listen and watch for stray footprints. We may be trying to tug you off in a different direction!

3. It doesn't matter if she is standoffish, acting unimpressed or afraid to trust another living soul; I like her, you like her and together we'll get her to realize it; but it is a joint effort for I now live in your mind and together we can show her it is okay.

4. He isn't the only one snagging the brain coffee! I'm in her too and just because you want the story to go a certain way and he is determined doesn't mean I'm going to make it easy.

5. It's okay if we fight, act witchy or grumpy. Those are the moments that the guards come down and we let out that thing that is really scaring us or admit what we are really feeling.

6. Good fights lead to fun pillow fights, occasional broken pottery, possibly enlightening moments and ultimately, great love scenes.

7. No. She broke my heart once. Broke it badly and I will never, ever trust her again. I mean, granted it is hard when she wears that...that little thing she calls a...whatever, but no, I am so not going there! No, don't make me be in a scene with candles! Do you know what candlelight does to her hair and her...eyes? She'll let me down again, you both will--that's playing dirty having her bring me coffee and that pie she used to make; I have my principles you know! Okay, okay, you win. BUT just not quite yet, wouldn't want her to think I'm too easy now....

8. It's okay if he is stubborn and difficult. He always was and he is so cute when he gets that stubborn set to his chin and his eyes blaze like that but I still need to prove to him that I won't let him down again and things like that take time. So just because you stick us together with my ie and firelight, don't think it will all go great because you want it to; we have our own agenda to work through!.

9. Everyone might say she's from Venus and I'm from Mars but I don't get how that explains why the woman can't just say what she's thinking and why she has to do surgery on me because she doesn't get it and I know I'm being perfectly logical even if she thinks I'm being dense.

10. Suuuure...you finish your book and you are all happy-happy and even if we DID get our happy ending, we are then slammed between the covers (BOOK covers!) and left to moulder without ever getting to do a....gee thanks!nything else...we might as well be figments of your imagination! Gee thanks...

Inspiration

Inspiration.

Where do you get yours?  I get mine in several different places or in several different ways.

I listen a lot to what is going on around me. i listen to what people say and do. One simple little line could spark the inspiration for a chapter or one of the adventures that my characters go thru. If you hear something funny, something sad, or someone telling a friend about a happy or sad event, listen to what is being said. Take notes, write down what they say, write down their emotions, facial expressions and just what ever gets your attention. Write down what ever you hear, you may never know when you may want to use something. I carry around a small note book that fits into my bag and write down things. I get stuck, I get a block, or i just need an idea, I pull out the book and go thru it. You will be amazed by what you can come up with.

I also reach back into my memories. Sit and think for a while about some of your memories from childhood and thru the teen years. Don't stop there, keep thing about all the things that have happened to you during your life. Think about what your siblings have experienced. You don't have to remember the entire even, just the key points.

You can take those key points and put your own twist on it. Case point. My sister believed that our grandmother's ghosts lived with her for several years. She thought this because she had issues with the water in her toilets running. My grandmother passed away on a bus trip with my sister. She had asked my sister to get her a drink of water, but because they were on a bus, my sister could not get her the drink. At one point during the trip, my sister got up to use the bathroom that was on the bus. When she returned to her seat, my grandmother was asleep. It was not until they reached their destination that it was discovered my grandmother had passes. My sister linked the bathroom, the water and my grandmother and came up with the idea that she was being haunted.

I used this event in my book. Alison has a crazy sister, Carley, the toilets in her house run, Carley believes that it is their grandmother. However, i changed it up a little. Their grandmother loved fountains, and it was revealed in the book that she had them everywhere. Carley has linked their grandmothers fountains to the running toilets in her house.

Music...I love music. I use it as a tool as well. i have several different people and groups that I like. I like several different types of music. Depending on what I am writing will depend on what type of music I listen to. One of my favorite things to write is about the relationship and connection that Jack and Alison have. They both deeply love each other and would do anything for the other one. To get me in to the mood to write those scenes, i listen to John Barrowman. I love the way that he is able to bring the story of the song to life. You can not just hear the passion, but you can feel it as well. I pull those emotions and put them into Jack and Alison. I think that is works well for me, and what a voice.

Lastly, the inspiration for the characters. Look around you, look at your co-workers, your friends, your family. The inspiration is all around you. There is a little piece of me in each of my characters. There are bits of friends, and family in my characters as well. I use both the good and the bad.

Write what you know, after all there could be a story in there somewhere.

Happy Writing
Barbara

Journaling...and why I started.

There have been weeks that i have had a hard time writin...not sure why. I do know that it is not because of the lack of ideas. There are plenty of ideas in my head and even a few on paper. Since I have not writen, I have done some reading. I read the things that I have writen, and pretty happy with it.

I have also been reading the many newsletters that arrive in my email. Some of them have been helpful and some not so much, but no matter what I have always taken something from them.

I received two particular newsletters, one I found to be very helpful and another one that was short and they got to the point very quickly. I was not sure how I felt about that newsletter. It was about would we want someone to read our jounals when we pass. Sometimes journals have some pretty personal things written in them.

I read the newsletter and just moved on to the next email. I really did not find it useful, at first, but I began to think about it. I was not a big jounaling fan. I never really got it, never really understood the reasoning for journal, so I never started one.

A coulple of years ago I was going though a hard time. Nothing was going right, everytime I turned around something bad happened.  I never had enough money. As the old saying goes, if it weren't for bad luck, I would have no luck at all. That was me the summer of 2009. Nothing good happened. I was talking to a good friend and co-worker about the bad time that I was having and she suggested starting a jounal. She had and still has a journal, she told me how it helped her. She told me all I really needed was a cheep sprial note book and a pen. Didn't need anythng fancy. Good, because I did not have the money for a fancy journal.

I took my last $5 and bought a notebook, but he drive home I began to regret purchase. I could have used the money for gas or for a cheap dinner for my kids. I got home and began to face the issues that were waiting for me as I walked in the door. I forgot about the jounal for just a little bit, but finally did pick it up.

I found a quiet place, my bedroom, crawled on the bed with my notebook and pen. I just sat there. Doing nothing but looking at the blank pages, yet again regreting buying the notebook. I had no idea where to start. What do I write about? Well I figured it out when I wrote the words, "This is so stupid, I have no idea what to write about or what to say." About an hour and a half and more than 12 pages later I realized that I did have something to say. Well, not really had something to say more like had a lot of emotions to get out. Why did I not go to friends and famliy? I really did not want my friends to know what I was going through and my sisters kept telling me to quit being a victim. I didn't want someone to fix my issues, I just wanted someone to listen. My journal did that, it listened and never judged me or accused me of being a victim.

My journal and I had a date every night after the kids went to bed. It started out with me just complaining, but after several entries I started adding some good things. The good things happened to other people, but I was beginning to add upbeat things. I then started to make short notes about how that day was just a little better than the day before.

I then started adding goals to my entries, small ones, but goals all the same. Made updates on those goals and noticed that my journal entries were getting more and more upbeat and positive and less complianing. I was beginning to feel better.

Then came the day that everything changed. It was September 9, 2009 and I had a bad day. It seemed like everything that my journal and I worked towards had not just taken a step back, but it just went right off a cliff and it was carried out into the ocean. I kept my date with my jounal and began to complain. While I was writing i had realized that I needed to be happy again. Even though things were getting better and I was learning to cope with things, I still was not happy. I soon learned what I needed to do to make myself happy agian.

I began thinking about the things that I used to do that made me happy, my crafts (scrapbooking and stamping), I had not been in my craft room in years. In fact my craft room had tuned into a storage room. Then it hit me, there was something, writing.

I useed to write short stories in high shcool and college. I loved doing it and even got good reveiws. Never won any prizes but that was ok, because it was something that I enjoyed and it was something that made me feel good. As I sat and thought about it, I began to remember about a dream that I once had and never followed it. Here was my chance. I wanted to write a book.

September 9, 2009 was the day that it all began, that was when Alison, Frannie and Beth came to be. It took me a few days to write my first chapter. The ideas for the following chapters were born with in weeks after writing that first chapter.

My journal and I have been though a lot, it has never let me down, it was there when I needed to yell, it was there when I needed to cry and it was there when I had some good news to share. Will my journal be worth anything to anyone when I pass. I don't know, but who ever reads it will learn things about me and maybe learn a few secrerts. The reader of my jounal will see the struggles that I suffered and how I brought my self back from those struggles.

I have not had a date with my journal in a while, so I just might pull it out, blow off the dust and do some writing. It will be there for me, I know that it has forgiven me, I don't need to ask.

So why not buy a cheap notebook, or just find one that you may have around your house and start a journal, you never know what will happen whe you begin to write.

Happy Writing
Barbara

Time to Share

I have surfed the net and have read some stories wrten by others.. I really like the site www.writing.com I visit that site often and have found they have some talented people that post thier stories. There is something there for everyone.
Happy Writing
Barbara

Welcome

I have decided to move my blog to a different site.  I hope here to get more exposure and it was time for a change.

I have just writen my first book.  Along the way i have learned some things, i am not a pro at this at all, but maybe i can help someone out there in their writing adventure. 

If you are a beginnger, closet writer or plan on getting published,  hope that you will find my adventrues helpful.  I also hope that I can learn a few things from you as well.

As I said, I have just finished my first book and in the process of editing.  I will be posting some of my old post for the other blog to here, some are just worth reposting and will be sharing my tales as the process of getting this book published.  I ave a lot to learn and do and will have a lot to share.  My goal is to help you figure out things as well.

As you will see, i love my news letteres and i get a few.  I will post some idea for my favorites and give you the websites so that you can visit them yourselves.


So, lets get this adventure started.

Happy Writing
Barbara