Characters

Inspiration…a Driving Force

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I was drawing in the Academmia the other day, when I overheard a girl say to her friend, “Oh Sarah! You want to study art, you should do it here!”

Of course, they were standing right behind me.

It’s so interesting, to imagine how I (or another art student) could inspire another to do something. Years from now, when that girl is old enough to go to college, will she remember seeing art students bent over their sketchpads, cursing Michelangelo for creating something so perfect?

Which brings me to my writing thoughts.

What inspires our characters to act? Is it a chance encounter, as mine with young Sarah may prove to be? Or are their actions planned for them by others?

Our characters don’t exist in vacuums (something I need to work on). They have motivations and things pique their interest, too. Their own little eccentricities, which may or may not ever see the light of day.

On the inspiration front, take my characters Griffin and Pryce. Both are doctors, both trained at the same university. But what brought them to this school?

For Griffin, it was carrying on the family trade. Both his father and grandfather were physicians, and both trained at the University of Edinburgh. As Griffin is both a native of the city, and continuing the tradition, it was a no-brainer.

Pryce, on the other hand, always enjoyed science and falls into the “I want to help people!” branch. He longs to escape his hometown, and ends  up in Edinburgh.

So, there we go. Two different means to reaching the same end.

Characters Without a Plot may Apply (the same is true for plots without characters)

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I’ve decided that I’m going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year; however, I’m not going to be working on Per Ardua ad Astra for it. This will leave me free to not feel guilty about writing parts of it now.

Lately, I’ve had a hankering to work on short stories. So? I’m going to write an anthology of shorts. At the moment, I don’t have a particular theme connecting everything. It may be a collection of spec fic shorts. Or maybe a bunch of stories about my pilots. Who knows?

As I haven’t written short stories in a long time, one may end up being a novella. The stories might be flash fiction. They might be traditional shorts. I’m getting rather excited about this. I’ve developed a character sans plot; now, perhaps he’ll get one. Or two. Maybe I’ll be uber-geeky and write a fanfic.

The Revenge of Heroes Named Jack: Attacking the Writer!

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Sigh. Just a little while ago I posted my epic list of Heroes Named Jack. It seems that I’ve slipped into that realm; worse, my Jack is sizing up the MC and is attempting to pounce.

He’s convinced that he’s the MC; I’ve had this problem before, and I usually give in. Not this time. Of course, everyone is the main character in their own life stories, so he’s right in one aspect. Its just not his story.

So, Jack’s name obviously has to go. I expect to change character names at least once for most characters (but my female MC’s name fits her quite well). I like Harry for him, but there’s that boy wizard. Edward is also a possibility, but there’s that Book That Shall Not Be Named. Naming characters is tough, especially when trying to use commonplace names! Some other character pops into my mind. There’s also Alasdair as an option, which could work as I plan on referring to him by his last name. But its too la-di-da for him.

Maybe I’ll be lucky and like Geoffrey, he’ll name himself.

Oh the humanity!

General Geekiness, The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

District 9, the new movie directed by Neill Blomkamp, is a remarkable film. A friend and I saw it this afternoon; I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew the very basic premise; these aliens (nicknamed “Prawns”) get stuck in Johannesburg and are trying to get home.

I enjoyed it; the first hour or so features fingernail violence and vomiting (two things that made me watch my palms for a few minutes), but the story is good and the main characters are sympathetic.

What got me the most was the parallels between the two main characters, the human Wikus van de Merwe and prawn Christopher Johnson. While I won’t go into the specifics of the story, both characters share a similar motive: they both want only to return home and back to the lives they knew.

Wikus is an intriguing character, in the fact that you begin by being annoyed with him, but by the end, you root for him. He’s not entirely good; he’s selfish, cowardly, self-serving government flunkie. But that’s okay. By the end of the movie, I was quite fond of him.

The film isn’t without its flaws. There are plot holes, obvious social commentary (not that it isn’t well done, it’s just readily apparent), and some faulty logic (how Wikus gets with the prawn is a bit contrived).  If the viewer suspends logic for a while, goes along with the ride, and just looks to be entertained, District 9 is the movie for you.

The ending is left open for a sequel, but I don’t think one is necessary. Sometimes open endings are the best ones; they let you draw your own conclusions.

Of course, high tolerance of fingernail violence is key.

Repeat after me. EVOLUTION.

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

After reading several good posts on characters and how they appear, I’ve been thinking about how my characters come to be. Never do they spring from my mind, fully formed and grown up as Athena from Zeus’s brow. I kind of envy those whose characters do this.

I’ve realized there are two ways that I come up with characters, but for brevity’s sake I’ll split into two posts.

My characters tend to be more fluid. They evolve from squiggles on paper, mere germs of an idea. I work through the slog, trying to find discernable traits and flaws. Sometimes it takes me years to find a character.

Let’s meet Geoffrey, though not a character in my current piece, he best exemplifies my evolving character flow. He’s also my longest-running character.

Geoff began life seven or eight years ago back when I RPed. He was a banished elven princeling named Lairedion (god awful, ain’t it?) who was a skilled musician, had a pet dragon, and was physically attractive. He also was one of the only male characters in the RP (I just realized this is another reason why I write primarily male characters…the RP world was overpopulated with ass-kicking females). He also was a bit of a wimp, and that was about it.

Geoff soon abandoned his cumbersome name, again got saddled with a new name (Orlando, for the Shakespearean character), and received some terrible injuries. At the time, I would build his character from what had happened in the previous day’s RP. He met new people, got into fights, etc.

Finally, he graduated from the computer screen and became the mentor character in my first serious attempt at a novel. Geoff (now Balor) found religion and saw it as a mission from God to return to the sidhe that had banished him in order to help this kid out. He evolved into a slightly nutty, know-it-all monktype dude, and I am sure as hell glad he isn’t that anymore.

So let’s recount. Lairedion-Orlando-Balor, now FINALLY Geoffrey, is a banished, beautiful elfling. Well, he isn’t an elf anymore  (and he is rather normal looking). He’s a, well, human from a different dimension. He also doesn’t have a pet dragon (the only fantasy in this world is the fact that Geoff ages veeery slowly), and his musical skills have failed. He dropped that obnoxious questing kid and set out into life as an innkeeper/amateur historian. Though still very religious, he’s more likely to engage someone in a conversation on a secular subject rather than preach at them. He has opinions, likes, dislikes, desires, flaws, a history…

Geoff finally feels like a real person to me.

10 points to Gryffindor if you can guess where his current name came from!

Gender bender! Or not.

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Looking through my notebooks and old stories, I’ve come to a realization.

I’m female both by sex and gender, and quite like being a girl. I just don’t write many female characters.

It’s not even that the percentages are close but slightly off. I’d wager a good 80% of my characters are male.

Why?

1). Setting/topic.

I enjoy writing historical fiction; the Royal Navy of Nelson’s era was my first main interest. And even though there were women aboard (wives, passengers and the like), the Brave Woman (or Girl) Who Dresses Up as a Man and Saves the Day bore me. The social hierarchies and ways of life are what really interest me, not throwing a female main character into the mix because it is the Modern Females Rule way.

2). What I Read.

The books I read are male dominated, at least in the main character category. O’Brian, Bruce Alexander, Tolkien…and, of course, the vast number of biographies and other assorted histories I enjoy. Not to mention male authors.

3). My Strong Dislike of Writing Love Stories.

By throwing a female MC into the loop, I’m afraid of turning it into a love story.

Of course, I don’t even know how well I write male characters. Oh well.