Writing: Creating your Elizabeth Bennett, an award, and an apology

Characters vs. Real People - And why I prefer to read about those in my head...

1) Characters are honest. People lie. No real person will tell another that he stinks ... not if he wants friends anyway. However, because we can enter a character's head, we know what they're thinking even if it's not politically correct. Even if a character may not be aware of his own feelings, we know what's on his mind. That's why characters often stick in our heads more than real people. Do we really get to know humans?

2) Characters lead exciting lives. People are, for the most part, boring. People spend most of their lives doing boring, mundane things - such as showering, picking up dog poo, sleeping, eating, and hating their in-laws. Good writers prevent their characters from doing these mundane things in books. They live in a world of relationships and emotions... even when their picking their noses they are exploring the meaning of life.

3) Characters are not burdened with diversions from the plot. Humans live a life that often have no plot whatsoever. Characters don't have to live through a weekly grocery or school run or don't have to balance their checkbooks. Humans die at an arbitrary point with many unresolved issues. Characters end their story at significant points and often their stories are resolved.

Basically, characters get to skip over all the boring bits. Because characters are often the most exciting personages we know, readers want to believe they are real.

How can we make our characters more real?

1. Know yourself to know your character.
Shallow people can only make shallow characters. Because (as we ascertained above) people lie, the only person who will honestly express their feelings with us is - our self. There is no good writing without self examination and brutal honesty. We can find within ourselves the different aspects of life and feelings to construct our characters with. We can even write about what we don't know because somewhere in our world we can link it to knowledge of ourselves.

2. Let your characters develop on their own.
Don't force them. Characters, like humans, will open themselves up to you over time. They will become more and more real to you and you can then show them to the reader.

What do you think? Have your characters started to express themselves over time? Did you find out new things about them as time progressed?

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Talli Roland, also a coffee lover, gave me the Sugar Doll award. (Pictured above) Thank you so much! You should check out her blog... here's why: 1) She's from London 2) She drinks coffee 3) And, oh, she has an awesome blog about writing and a few days ago she wrote about how to play your blog...

Now, I'm suppose to give this award away... here's my picks: (I chose those without the award and those with fewer followers - go check out their hard work!)

1) Wandeca at Wandeca Reads - she's a fellow Canadian

2) Marce at Tea Time with Marce - she loves Earl Grey Tea...also my favorite tea.

3) My pal from India, Rayna at Coffee Rings Everywhere

4) Elspeth at It's a Mystery

5) All my fellow writers at Journey in Ink

6) Anne Rooney at Stroppy Author's guide to publishing - She has written hundreds of books.
7) Margot at Confessions of A Mystery Novelist

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Also, I want to take a moment to apologize to my characters... you know who you are. I can feel you tapping on my shoulder and whispering in my ear to keep writing. I hear you. I've just been too busy to really listen. I know some of you have been sulking and not talking to me - which I have to say hasn't really been helping me. So I'm telling you this now - I'm here again, tell me your story. Talk to me.

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Review: The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham

G'day, everyone. I'm back from vacation and I can't say how happy I am about that fact. Enjoy my latest Monday book review!

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Buy the book!

Genre: Cozyish mystery - I say this because there are some gruesome scenes.

How I read it: I own the book.

What attracted me to the book: I love watching the series on TV.

What it worth the money? Her books are cheap. You can probably find hundreds of her books in a used book store... so yes.

Who should read this book: Everyone who loves a clever whodunit.

Summary (from amazon): The British author makes her debut here in an uncommonly appealing mystery, set in a tranquil village, Badger's Drift. Learned Chief Inspector Barnaby and callow Sergeant Troy go to work when importunate, elderly Miss Bellringer insists that her friend, Emily Simpson, did not die of a heart attack as her doctor claimed, but was murdered. An autopsy proves Miss Bellringer right; Emily had imbibed a Socratic mix of wine and hemlock. Spreading alarm throughout the community, an unseen murderer strikes again, leaving sly Mrs. Rainbird's bloody corpse to be found by her son, the local undertaker. As Barnaby and Troy investigate, they turn up evidence of another crime years earlier, and several suspects. Among them are the doctor's promiscuous wife, a young woman whose brother objects to her marriage to a rich widower and a Lady Chatterley-type gamekeeper. Diligent detecting brings the chief and his bumbling assistant to a sensational expose. Graham makes the characters humanly believable in her witty and tragic novel, a real winner.

My thoughts: I just realized that Edward Martin talked about Midsomer on his blog today too. I read this book a long time ago and wanted to re-read it because of the 2010 challenge. I'm glad I did. I own quite a few of Graham's books, some with Inspector Barnaby as the main character, some not.

Perhaps because this is her first book, she doesn't fill it with massive amounts of description. She keeps the book to the point and only adds the exciting bits. I loved all the off-the-wall characters. I actually like to read first books from authors, before the publishing world really sinks their claws into the writers and demands word count and formula. I felt the way about Elizabeth George's first book as well. Since then, both authors have produced longer books with more filler.

I think once you read this book, you will not forget the premise. I give a warning however...some of the themes in his cozy mystery are not suitable for younger adults.

Did I figure out who the murderer was before the main character(s): I suspected something but how it was done exactly eluded me.

Bottom Line: She writes wonderful books. She's an easy read. A great series to start and start here.

Rating:

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An Extra: Here's a pic from my garden.

Shakespeare's Sonnet Sunday - Sonnet 11

As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st
In one of thine, from that which thou departest;
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow'st,
Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest.
Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and increase;
Without this folly, age, and cold decay:
If all were minded so, the times should cease
And threescore year would make the world away.
Let those whom nature hath not made for store,
Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish:
Look whom she best endow'd, she gave the more;
Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish:
She carv'd thee for her seal, and meant thereby,
Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

1. As fast as you age is how fast
2. your children that come after you shall age;
3. And the children that you bring to this world,
4. You may call your when your youthfulness is gone.
5. In your children, wisdom, beauty, and increase to your family will continue;
6. But, without producing children, you are only left with folly, age, and then death.
7. If everyone thought this way, life on earth would cease
8. in thirty years as the last person died.
9. Let those who do not have fine qualities,
10. those who are harsh, ugly, and rude die without adding to the world.
11. But those who have a lot to give, those with many fine qualities,
12. qualities that you should value.
13. Nature gave you these qualities so that
14. you should make more copies of you in the form of children.

Pic source: http://www.wolverhamptonhistory.org.uk/people/victorian_childhood/playtime/painting

Saturday's Writing Quotation Examination

Well, my book is written--let it go. But if it were only to write over again there wouldn't be so many things left out. They burn in me; and they keep multiplying; but now they can't ever be said. And besides, they would require a library--and a pen warmed up in hell.

~ Mark Twain

I love my stories... well of course I do. If I didn't, I would not have written them. Anyway, when reading this quote, it struck a note with me. I've written one book to completion. That doesn't mean a first draft, that means many drafts to publication. 

However, the story still plays over and over for me in my mind. I know all the details of the story, even though I never included many in the final draft, and when re-reading the novel, I often think of the parts I've excluded. I often wish I would have included this or that... added a section here or there. But, it's too late now.

Have you ever felt that way? After publication, have you ever looked back at your work and wished you'd included something more?

The History of Words

Can you make word history? Can you stretch the boundaries of word use?
One thing I love about the English language is that it is constantly evolving. Remember when gay used to mean happy? Or when wicked used to a bad thing?

English has evolved from many languages: Latin, Spanish, French, Greek and it's still evolving. Proof? Google (both a registered verb and noun) it.

So, for those who love words and the wonder of language, here's a fun exercise.

1) Find a good dictionary. One with etymology (that means word origins) in it. Dictionary.com if you don't own paper anymore.

2) Look up the following words: gossip, adultery, kangaroo, music, television, orange, sandwich, marathon, husband, lunatic.

3) Look up ten other words that you have recently used in your writing.

4) Write a story that reveals something about the origin and roots of some of these words while still using them in a modern sense.

Creativity and the Writer - Part 2

Yesterday, we discussed how to be creative with words and using the shapes and sounds of words to challenge the reader. Today, we will discuss:

1) The atmosphere of words - words carry and atmosphere with them. For example, we can use the word 'walk' or the word 'stroll' or the word 'perambulate' and though they mean similar things, they have a different effect. Walk is boring... stroll is modern whereas perambulate gives a grander more old-fashioned feeling. Effect.

In your novel what you write can change the effect. For example, if a single character ends a letter with 'Your sincerely,' you get a different effect than if he later writes 'hugs and kisses,' or ' Warmest regards.' The character can use language to get across a different message. Ah, the English language is grand, is it not?

2) The rhythm of words - this is important because it can make or break a novel.

For example, I used to study computer languages and examined many books written on the subject. Why did I pick one book over the other? Often, thanks to the modern amazon invention of 'look inside the book', it was because of the read. PHP could be a very boring or difficult subject to read about or it could be made interesting... what's the difference? Usually the writer. I good writer will learn the rhythm of words.

Why so important? Look at history. The first literature we've had as humans were often written to percussion... to rhythm. We remember lyrics better than chunks of prose. Rhythm affects our mode and pace and our relationships with others. We could write sentences that are five or six pages long but we would lose readers fast - we need rhythm to match what were reading.

When reading a fast action scene, we want  to read like were running, like we have adrenaline running through us. We make our sentences shorter.

When reading of love, we slow down, savor the words, whisper the words to ourselves. We want them to talk to eternity about love and will listen to long flowing flowery sentences.

Try to use these two devices to your advantage when writing.

Source: The Writer's Way