Year: 2009

On character development (part II)

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

The Character’s Clothes
1. How many clothes does this character have?

Not many. He tends to wear the same outfits all the time.
2. What kinds of items are in their wardrobe?

Jeans, Oxford shirts, band tees, a suit
3. Do they have favorite articles of clothing?

His band tees–The Who and The Kinks
4. What colors are their clothes, is there a wide range? Bright or dull? What are their favorite colors to wear?

His clothes tend to be dull or dark, blues, greens, greys, browns.
5. Are their clothes old or new?

Newish for the most part. He doesn’t wear vintage.
6. Were they bought or homemade, hand-me-downs, expensive tailored-made?

He bought them in a store.
7. Is your character at home in their clothes or uncomfortable?

He feels very comfortable in his clothes.
8. Does your character care for their clothes, kept up and neat, do they worry about how they look?

He’s a neat freak. His Oxford shirts are always ironed.
9. Does your character have to dress a certain way because of his job or position? Is it a uniform? If so, do the clothes fit their real, basic character, or are the clothes worn as a symbol or mask?

When at work, he wears his uniform–polo shirt and khakis. He dresses the way he does because he was brought up being told to look neat, and also because he just likes to be comfortable.
10. Do they dress according to a self-image of themselves? Is this self-image conscious or unconscious? At what age was this self-image set, and what circumstances dictated the image?

He dresses for comfort, and wanting to look professional, which he decided upon entering college (at 18).
11. Discuss adornments, jewelry, or trophies that your character might wear. Are there tattoos, piercing, brandings, or ritualistic scarring, and what were the events, rituals, or circumstances that lead your character to having them.

He’s afraid of needles, so no tattoos, piercings, etc. He does have a scar on his wrist after shutting his hand in a car door, and a scar on his knee after falling off of his bike.


12. What kind of underwear does your character wear?

Boxers (with ducks on them).

On vampires in fiction

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Sorry Twilight, I think you killed vampires in fiction. At least for the next 10 or so years, until they’re retro. They’re getting very over done, in my opinion.

I think it is time that we find a new mythological being to overexpose.

How ’bout goblins? Not much is written about them. I can see it now:

She glances across the room, her eyes locking onto the pale, yellow green ones of the small man in the corner. She can’t look away. “Who is that?” she asks one of the passing students.

“Oh, that’s Matthias,” replies the student. “But you wouldn’t be interested in him. His family is very, very strange…”

It would be a real Beauty and the Beast type story.

Or come up with your own kind. It worked for Highlander. We’re talking first movie.

So, today’s prompt is to write a story/scene featuring a non-traditional mythological being. No vampires. No werewolves. No weird hybrids.

On dreams

General Geekiness

Yesterday while napping, I dreamed. Not an unusual occurance by any stretch of the imagination. This dream was different.

In my dream, I was trying to make a decision about my future. I had three options–move abroad, get my doctorate or get a job after graduation. I was speaking to someone about it, and she said, “Ah! I know exactly what you should do!”

Then my alarm went off.

On fantasy

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I’ve always loved genre fiction. When I was in middle school, my walls were lined with fantasy books of the most mundane sort–you know the kind. Sword fights, dragons, damsels-in-distress (and sometimes notso), and of course, the typical medieval, pseudo-Tolkien setting. When I set about my first serious attempts to write novels (more correctly, longer stories), they all had the bland faux-medieval England setting.

As I grew older, I began reading more varied books. High school came around, and with it, Bruce Alexander’s wonderful Sir John Fielding Mysteries. Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin Series followed shortly thereafter. I had enjoyed historical fiction a great deal, but these books through me into the genre even more.

The two genres began to twist about in my head. What if the characters from my typical fantasy story got bumped up to the early  or mid Victorian era? Neither of the series I mentioned take place in that era, but the idea of a hidden society in that stiff period could be interesting.

Which threw me into one of my favorite things to do. Research. I’m not being sardonic, I truly enjoy researching things. More on that in a later post.

Research in fantasy books (at least, amateur ones, and I’m certain some professional ones) is a rareity. We have this set idea of what stereotypical fantasy is in our mind, and we run with it. As a result, we get bland, typical stories.

Even though I am female, the “woman warrior” bothers me. Swords are heavy. Even just using a stage fighting sword for a couple of hours aches and those things are light. Archery isn’t easy (speaking from experience). And shooting multiple arrows at once like Legolas is never a good idea (speaking from observation). The arrows never go where they’re supposed to, and more than one arrow at a time can damage the bow.

Break free from the bonds of convention and have fun.

On smells

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Smells rarely get used in descriptions, or, at least, I’ve never truly noticed any good ones. The smells are usually blandly described, like “acidic” or “acrid” or “nice.”
So, today’s prompt is simple. Describe the smell of the room around you (or one you’ve recently visited). I’ll go first.

As I opened the bathroom door, I was hit with the brutal reek of mint mouthwash. The smell soured my nostrils, but I counted my blessings. It could have been worse–it could have been the heavy, sickly sweet mint masking half-dry vomit.

On inspiration

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I get inspiration from everything, but lately my classes have been knocking me over the head, idea wise. I’m taking one on the Prophets and Prophetic Literature in the Bible, and another on human nature.
I find that my writing and characters are taking on some more religious vibes because of the first course, and a wee bit philosophical because of the latter.
The themes that my religion class explore are really fascinating; the enduring ideas of righteousness and justice (plus fun little things like royal theology and, of course, prophetic poetry). Reading this different kind of literature is interesting: it provides a different way to look at things, and has some wonderful turns of phrase.

Human nature is casting a shadow on my work as well. I’ve learned about the philosophical bigwigs–Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Hobbes, Marx…and their ideas are creeping into my work and thought process. Its easier to create characters with different world views after learning about different philosophies. I may try creating characters that embody different philosophers’ ideas. But that may be a wee bit pretentious of me.