Wednesday 20 July 2011

ROW 80 Check-in 20th July

This week has been all about the characters for me. After my really grumpy week last week (thanks for putting up with me during that!) I turned to the characters I mentioned last check-in.

On Monday I spent 30 minutes reading up on how to develop credible characters and made lots of notes from different sources which I hoped would help me.

Yesterday I spent 30 minutes developing character 1. Once I started writing a character profile of her the ideas just kept popping up and I really enjoyed it. I do think however she doesn't seem terribly likeable at the moment and I want to give her some warmth which I am hoping to do when I find the right occupation for her. Also I posted about my dream writing location which is one of my three posts this week. I would love it if you read it and let me know what you think. What would your dream writing location be?

Today I have brainstormed character 2 and also the man that links the two girl characters. I am starting to see what people mean when they say you get to know your characters and they become real to you. I sort of 'knew' things about them without really thinking deeply about them. So exciting!

So things are going well this week.

I have two more days and then we break up for the summer! I should have lots of time to write however as I am pretty anonymous in my desire to write (only a couple of people know this and know of my blog) it may be difficult to write over certain periods e.g. when I am on holiday with friends. I am going to plan for it and always have my notebook on hand to help me. I am sure I can grab 5 minutes here and there and other days I will be free to do lots. We will see!

Hope your weeks are going well....off to check out some check-ins!

9 comments:

  1. Hi Em! Thanks for stopping by my blog.
    My perfect writing space isn't one place. I tend to be an adventurer...one day I'm on the patio under the canopy and it suits me perfectly. The next, I'm at the kitchen table with a glass of wine, and at that moment, that's perfect.
    My husband has declared that once we have a free bedroom, he will transform the space into an office for me. My mind conjures images of bookshelves lining the wall, an oversized chair with ottoman, and a beautiful desk with every organizational alcove and cubby I can think of. A computer that is just mine - and absolutely NO DUST. (You did say my 'perfect' writing space, right?)
    Have a great week ~ Nadja

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  2. I lvoe the amount of time you spend with your characters. I think a writer should intimately know his/her characters; depth makes them so much more interesting. Moments of not likable are good; flaws create interest as long as the flaws are redeemable (I don't even like purely evil villians, need something to grasp).

    Enjoy your blog and congrats on your progress. Thanks for stopping by my update and being so supportive. Loving ROW80!

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  3. Awesome work with your characters this week! I'm sure you'll do wonderfully while on holiday. I think now you'd miss it too much otherwise.

    My perfect writing space is somewhere comfortable and thoroughly unexciting so that I can tune it out and don't wander around looking at things lol.

    Hope you have a great week!

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  4. Always fun developing characters. I generally have never found character profiles that useful, myself, but I think that's because I spent so much time role playing when I was younger. The characters come naturally as I go, so a character profile feels stiff to me.

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  5. Ha ha. This reminds me of a story I started writing but, the main character was so hateful I couldn't stand her myself. Now, I'm writing something entirely different but I'll come back to my previous story after I'm done here and do some serious character changes.

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  6. Hi Em,
    Sounds like you're getting lots accomplished. Keep it up!

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  7. Sounds like you're doing really well getting to know your characters - that's so exciting! Hope you have a wonderful time on holiday! :)

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  8. Hey, Em. Did you check this site out? http://www.suite101.com/character-development
    Maybe it'll help you to create your characters. :)

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  9. Oooooh...thanks darkwrite...will go and check it out!

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