Creating New Characters in a Character Driven World by Sayde Grace

Hello everyone! First let me give a huge thank you to FFnP for allowing me the honor and pleasure to be here guest blogging today. When I first decided to write a book I knew two things: one I wanted it to be about werewolves and two I had no clue where to start.

Thankfully a friend suggested I try FFnP where I immediately joined and hit the crit group up for help. A few years later I had written two paranormal books and secured a lifelong friendship and critiqueship with the amazing Rebecca Zanetti.

As I’ve grown as a writer and a reader I’ve learned something else, it’s damn hard to create characters in a world where we see and read about so many unique and fascinating characters. It’s challenging to create new worlds, spins, and points of views on ideas.

 For me the creation of my characters take more time than creating my world or species within my paranormal books. Usually this is because I start with what I want my characters to be like, what drives them and once I know that I figure out why this drives them. Most of the time the why is what determines what they are.

One thing I have found useful in creating new memorable characters that will stand out in a sea of fantastic characters is to give them real world humor, events, and problems along with the apocalyptic disaster surrounding their species or world.

For example, I live in southern Alabama in a very rural area. Once in awhile I will drive into Mobile, Al to go shopping. About a week ago I needed to go get some new shoes and headed to town. I drive a gas hogging Tahoe so I had to stop to get gas in down town. Well, as I stuck the nozzle into the gas tank a man walked around the corner of my truck and asked me for my phone number.  I resisted the urge to give him the death stare and instead explained I wasn’t interested and thanked him anyway before he tried to sell me a Lakers shirt for $10 that would make me look super smokin hot according to him.  As he peddled off on his womans bicycle still holding onto the Lakers shirt, I wondered about what kind of character he’d make in a book.

I instantly saw him as the lust driven but never laid side kick to my newest hero. You know, super annoying because everything he does is about sex that he never has, yet in the end he’s funny and useful. Or maybe he’ll be an undercover cop or PI following my heroine for an evil wolf looking for a new mate. You just never know, but can you see how the real life situation opened up so many character traits and even plots? While it’s always great to create something new and special and completely different from everyday life you still want to have a character us poor humans can relate too.  Those are the types of characters I remember.

So go forth, watch the people around you, ease drop on conversations while waiting at the doctor’s office or in the line somewhere, you never know when a real life situation or person will strike a memorable character for you.

Thanks everyone,

Sayde Grace
http://saydegrace.com/

The Strange and Unusual by Mimi Sebastian

Among the many writing tips I’ve come across, one that has stuck in my mind is to incorporate an element of the strange and unusual in your book. My debut Urban Fantasy series involves a necromancer, zombies, and demons. It doesn’t get much more unusual than that, but I guess it depends on how you look at it J.

We all have odd things that happen to us in our day-to-day lives. Things we shrug or laugh at, then keep shopping or walking. A friend once told me of a homeless man who entered the bus she was riding, holding one of those red viewfinder toys, empty of a picture wheel. (Talk about the strange and unusual. The pictures in those wheels could be downright weird.) He rode the bus and pointed the viewfinder at riders, clicking away, as if taking pictures. He was harmless, and the passengers, including my friend, found it amusing…and strange.

The story made an impression on me, obviously. I wrote a sequel with my necromancer heroine riding the subway when a homeless man steps on with a viewfinder toy, observing people through the toy. Of course, I upped the creepy factor, and it gave an edge to the sequel. It played up how my heroine was feeling insecure after a particularly stressful scene where she learns important, but disturbing things about her past.

I also like incorporating unusual settings. One of my scenes takes place at the Mechanical Museum in San Francisco. The museum harkens back to the days of old carnivals and beachside boardwalks, housing a collection of antique arcade machines, some dating back to the 1800s, all in working condition. If you’re ever visited it, it’s one of those unique places you don’t often find. If you haven’t, check it out!  It’s so much fun. My heroine meets with an old friend at the museum, and the weird kookiness of the exhibits serves as a great backdrop to show how my heroine’s life has just crossed the normal boundary from which she will never return. And then I end it with her playing a guillotine game…

With Urban Fantasy or Paranormal, the story and characters are strange and unusual, so what’s the point? Even though the characters are supernatural and deal with supernatural problems, they still live in the ordinary world and cope with ordinary life issues: death, love, acceptance, loyalty, and friendship. Not so strange after all. So, as we may sometimes experience for ourselves, when the lines separating the normal and abnormal, natural and preternatural become blurred, it can provide a moment for the character to question how they chose to cope with their power, or question their very sanity, which is always fun.

Or, the strange and unusual can actually ground the story in reality, which seems contradictory, but we all have those, what the…? moments, where truth is stranger than fiction, and when a book stumbles upon such a moment, the reader can sometimes relate more to the oddity than the sword wielding demon. (Of course, nothing wrong with sexy, sword wielding demons!)

As with all things in writing, anything can be overdone, and throwing things in that don’t relate to the overall conflict or theme will take the reader out of the story, but incorporating a small moment of strange and unusual can add power, provide a weird juxtaposition or fun moment, test your characters, highlight a character strength or flaw, or add humor.

Does anyone have any strange happenings or examples from their books or life to share?

Noemi Ghirghi writing as Mimi Sebastian

www.mimisebastian.com

Twitter @mimisebastian

Bio:

Noemi Ghirghi writes as Mimi Sebastian and raised herself on books and the strange and unusual with an unhealthy dose of comics and Scooby Doo. Loving angst-filled romance thrown in the mix, she decided to blend all those elements in a steamy mix in her first Urban Fantasy series, the Necromancer Books. The first book, The Necromancer’s Seduction, debuts July 15, 2013, with ImaJinn Books.

Noemi spent two years in the Ivory Coast with the Peace Corps and loves to introduce tid-bits from her experiences in her writing. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America and the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter of RWA. A transplant from the beaches of Florida, Noemi now wanders the desert in Phoenix , AZ, and attempts to balance writing with a day career, fantastic family, and household diva: her Amazon parrot.

Revising with Timelines by Laura Bickle

Writers tend to get into a lot of trouble with time. There's making time to write, managing deadlines, and the vagaries of market timing.

One issue with time, however, is entirely within the author's control. And that's the timeline of the story.

I never paid a whole lot of critical attention to time when I read. Sure, I was conscious that some passages in stories could be languid and slow-moving like a drippy faucet. Others were exhaustingly rushed. I never was quite able to put my finger on why.

And then, when my first book was accepted for publication, I discovered the answer:  books can grow timeline issues. They're very subtle, but can really cause problems with the reader's perception of a work.

A timeline problem occurs when characters have too many events crammed into a period of time - or not enough. A succession of tasks emerges that would require the bending of the rules of the space-time continuum or superhuman abilities to accomplish. It occurs when your main character hasn't slept for days. It happens when she travels an impossible distance in an hour. It can take place when your main character hasn't worked regular hours at her day job without explanation. This goes for crazy amounts of overtime, or not working at all. It happens when your character is doing "cop stuff" for seven days in a row without a day off or at least a pro forma request for overtime.  It's easy for an author to lose track of what day it is, and a character can get trapped in a month-long weekend or a year of Wednesdays.

Mundane concerns? Maybe. But they catch an editor's eye and seep into the subconscious of the reader. And sometimes, we've gotta pay attention to the rules of the real world - like time - in order to allow the reader to suspend disbelief for the really magical things we want to do with the story.

My editor asked me to turn a timeline in with my book. Something simple, listing the day, night, and all the scenes that happened in each. By reviewing my manuscript in this way, I could see where I crammed too many activities into the heroine's day  - or (eep!) not enough. When I finish a draft, I read through it and start constructing my timeline.

I also create a second list that's not strictly a timeline. It's one that notes where chapters begin and end, how many scenes are included in the chapter, and how many pages each chapter is. Sticking a ten-page chapter next to a twenty-five page chapter creates unevenness, and keeping a note helps me be more aware of it. It also shows me where I have a bunch of stubby two-page scenes strung together. This causes me to question whether I'm head-hopping or whether I really need to find a way to collapse those scenes into less choppy ones. It helps me analyze flow. It also shows me whether I'm doing a good job of ending chapters in the middle of the action, causing the reader to want to turn the page to the next.

By doing this kind of post-hoc analysis, and correcting the results, I found that pacing issues automatically ironed themselves out.

I've turned a timeline in for every book since, whether or not I was asked. And it's really reduced the amount of time I spend fixing structural issues in revisions. Now, I tend to work with that timeline in my head, and it keeps me honest. It keeps my very human characters from turning into Wonder Women and Supermen.

Not only do I have to manage time, but my characters do, too. Maintaining a timeline is a front-line editing fix I suggest that every writer keep in her toolbox.

________________

Laura Bickle’s professional background is in criminal justice and library science, and when she’s not patrolling the stacks at the public library she’s dreaming up stories about the monsters under the stairs (she also writes contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams). Laura lives in Ohio with her husband and five mostly-reformed feral cats. THE HALLOWED ONES is her first young adult novel. For more info about Laura and her books, please visit her website at www.laurabickle.com. She’s also on Facebook and Twitter, usually exclaiming over cute cat pictures and nerdy things.

Mixing Magic and Modern Times by Nancy J. Cohen

How do you mix magic into modern times? If you’ve been writing straight contemporary stories or tales set in another universe, it might take an adjustment to mix these elements together. Here are some tips to show you the way.

Determine your setting. Where will the story take place? What is different about your reality?

Let’s say you’re writing a YA story. Will the background location be a high school? A summer vacation by a lake? Or a small town where eerie things start happening? What’s peculiar about your place? Is there a circle of rocks that dates back to Druidic times? Or perhaps a strange mist that fills the night air at the lake’s edge?

It could be that an object has magical properties in your modern setting, like the crystals in the TV show featuring teenage witches, The Secret Circle. The point is to take an everyday setting and give it a twist.

Warrior Prince, book one in my new Drift Lords Series, involves sinister theme parks, Thus I set the first story in Orlando, Florida. Where else could a band of hunky uniformed men with laser weapons show up and not get a second glance? Nor do visitors to Orlando’s theme parks expect anything other than a happy, peaceful visit. They’re in for a surprise at my fictional tourist attraction called Drift World.

The action starts when mythologist Nira Larsen goes hunting for a summer job at the theme park’s seedy employment office. Her interview turns into a nightmare when the bad guys attack her. Why are they interested in her? See the next step below.

 

Create your characters. Which of your people will possess magical powers? Are they aware of this ability, or will they discover it in the course of the story? What exactly are the boundaries of this power, the explanation for it, and its weakness? Whatever ability you create, it must remain consistent throughout your series. If you wish to alter an aspect of it, give a plot twist that causes a mutation or an explanation that produces a logical change.

In Warrior Prince, my bad guys are evil trolls called Trolleks. They’ve invaded Earth through a dimensional rift in the Bermuda Triangle. The Drift Lords—warriors from space—rush to the rescue to quell the invasion, but they can’t do it alone. They need the help of a special group of Earth women with legendary powers.

Where did these powers originate? Since my series is based on Norse mythology, the women are descendants of Odin, the All-Father. He had shapeshifting ability. Thus each heroine is capable of manipulating molecules related to the elements. Nira can alter air currents and choke off someone’s breath. Jennifer Dyhr, a fashion designer, manipulates fabric, corresponding to the fabric of time. Erika, owner of a pottery studio, not only can mold clay but she can mobilize the  earth in her defense. And so on.

And these are just the heroines. The series has dragons who can fly, dwarfs who can change metal into gold, elves who can dance a man to death, and other creatures.

And don’t forget the bad guys. The Trolleks secrete a chemical substance that directly alters the human brain. They transmit it through touch. This process is termed confounding and it turns people into mind slaves. However, my heroines are resistant to this effect, which is why the Trolleks try to capture Nira. Their chief scientist wants to experiment on her. Do you see how the plot develops from the characters and the setting?

Choose a model for your magical system.

If your universe will be based on fairy tales, myth, or folklore, study these stories to see what elements you wish to incorporate into your world. Take the parts that will enhance your story and build on them. Put together your own system that works in the modern world. Remember to stay within the bounds of these tales. For example, I don’t have fairies in my stories because they don’t appear in Norse myths. Be consistent in the universe you create.

Establish the rules of your universe.

Determine how your world operates and then maintain consistency. If there’s magic, where did it come from? Who wields it? What can weaken it? Does it only work under certain conditions? Let’s say your story dictates that living persons can become zombies. How does this happen? Can they be turned back to normal? Can they die? What kills them? What do they want and why? What energizes them? Do they need sustenance? Once you set your rules, stick with them.

It’s great fun creating your own magical system and incorporating it into the world we know.

How do you blend magic with reality?

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All commenters during Nancy’s blog tour will be entered into a drawing for a Warrior Prince tee shirt and magnet and a pdf copy of Warrior Prince. Go to http://bit.ly/9ytdvu for a complete schedule of her tour stops.

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Warrior Prince: Book One in the Drift Lords Series by Nancy J. Cohen

When mythologist and Florida resident Nira Larsen accepts a job as tour guide for a mysterious stranger, she's drawn into a nightmare reality where ancient myths come alive and legendary evils seek to destroy her. To survive, she must awaken her dormant powers, but the only person who can help is the man whose touch inflames her passion.

After a dimensional rift in the Bermuda Triangle cracks open and an ancient enemy invades Earth, Zohar—leader of the galactic warriors known as the Drift Lords—summons his troops. He doesn't count on a redheaded spitfire getting in his way and capturing his heart. Nira has the power to defeat the enemy and to enslave Zohar's soul. Can he trust her enough to accomplish his mission, or will she lure him to his doom?

Author Biography

Nancy J. Cohen is a multi-published author who writes romance and mysteries. Her popular Bad Hair Day mystery series features hairdresser Marla Shore, who solves crimes with wit and style under the sultry Florida sun. Several of these titles have made the IMBA bestseller list, while Nancy’s imaginative sci-fi/paranormal romances have garnered rave reviews and a HOLT Medallion Award. Active in the writing community and a featured speaker at libraries and conferences, Nancy is listed in Contemporary Authors, Poets & Writers, and Who’s Who in U.S. Writers, Editors, & Poets.

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