Picking Your Crew

 

You have that great idea for your story. Your plot is masterpiece. There are intimate slices of life, twists and turns, drama, suprises, insight, imagination: everything needed to make a best seller. You've got a pretty good idea of who you want populating this world you have created. 

It's all looking pretty promising. But here's the thing. And you know there's always a thing. 

In order to make your story shine above others, you need these characters to be memorable, unique, witty.

Wait , I hear you say. Do they all need to be positive?

The answer is, not at all.

These beloved characters can be miserly, grumpy, pesty, contrary, and not the kind of person you might choose to be  your BFF.

But what you do next will make them memorable. You will make us care about them. Your readers will turn the pages eagerly to see what happens to these people.

What makes for a good read is not so much the storyline, but the characters who walk that line. From the lead role, down to the cameos, your readers will stick around if they can relate, empathize and feel a connection. 

How do you do that? First, you will give them some redeeming qualities no matter how dastardly they may be. They will be the kind of person you would want to sit down with and see what makes them tick, even if you wouldn't trust them to babysit your cat. 

You've heard the old adage, show don't tell. That's elemental. Don't introduce your character by telling us everything about them in the first meeting. This is not a police line up. 

Sneak the information in as you go. 

Replace descriptions with happenings. He wasn't fat. Instead, he flopped his massive frame onto the couch. He didn't wear a flashy shirt. Rather, when he met his friend, the friend said, "Dude can you turn the colour down?"

His superior attitude towards the waiter in the cafe, shows he is a snob. Her refusal to listen to the good advice of her friends are testimony to her stubborness.

You get the idea. Too much description can be over bearing. Let your character develop over the pages, rather than come completely assembled. That gives the reader more leeway in deciding how they feel about them.

And whether they hate the persona, or love them, the one thing you want them to come away with is that they care and want to see how things pan out.

 

A Word About Words

 

Writing is about words. Anyone have an issue with that? Eating is about food. Agreed? What happens when we eat too much? Our tummies hurt and we have to stop eating. When we try to read overly verbose writing our brains hurt, and we will likely jump ship.

Words are wonderful and they can convey emotion, action, colour, quirks, drama, on so on. But remember they are still just words, they aren't real life. Your job as a writer is to make the two as close as possible, so the reader feels he is living the experience.

Once you start to throw words around like confetti, you cloud the story, you distract from your intent, and you likely lose your audience.

It's very easy to become self indulgent, look at something you wrote and think, "Isn't that clever, let's see if I can do it again." Before you know it ,your story is lost in a forest of verbose, rambling distraction.

By all means use creative and colourful language, but don't use  it just because you can. Be economic; if something is a simple act, it doesn't need a four line description. Save that for the things that can really use some colour. 

Some writing coaches are down on adjectives and adverbs. By all means use them, but only when needed. Why say talked loudly when you can say shouted? Was the sky swirling with dark, black clouds or was it angry? 

When you go to edit, read it as if you are seeing it for the first time. Does what you read take you right into the story, or do you feel like an outsider watching someone show off?

You're a writer, you have a gift. Share your magic with the world. You have one chance to grab a reader with your words, or to send them running to another author. Use you words wisely.

Inspirations and other short stories

Instead of writing a long laborious essay on where inspiration comes from, I'll keep it simple. Truth is it comes from everywhere, full stop. But if you are having some issues with ideas and sources, maybe this will help. 

Hope you find something you can work with here.

BTW it took me longer to make this than it did any of my other posts.